1996 MBNA 500
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| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 25 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1996 Miller 500 program cover, featuring Ward Burton. | |||
| Date | September 15, 1996 | ||
| Official name | 28th Annual MBNA 500 | ||
| Location | Dover, Delaware, Dover International Speedway | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1 miles (1.6 km) | ||
| Distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Average speed | 105.646 miles per hour (170.021 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||
| Time | 23.213 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 204 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TNN | ||
| Announcers | Eli Gold, Dick Berggren, Buddy Baker | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The 1996 MBNA 500 was the 25th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 15, 1996, in Dover, Delaware at Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 17th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his eighth victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace and Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett would finish second and third, respectively.
Entry list
Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.
The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
