1996 Mountain Dew Southern 500 - NASCAR Race

Name of Race:	1996 Mountain Dew Southern 500
Name of Track:	Darlington Raceway
Date:	September 1st

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina.

Looks Like An Egg

It was the first superspeedway built with NASCAR racing in mind and is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.

Largest Field of Racers

Darlington has an interesting history. When the 1.366 mile long track first opened over a half-century ago, it was not uncommon for there to be 80 or more entrants in a race; this was curtailed over the years as NASCAR adopted a more uniform set of guidelines with regard to the number of cars which could qualify for a race.

Flip-Flop

In recent years the track has been reconfigured; what was the front stretch is now the back stretch, and the turns have been renumbered accordingly. Seating has been increased to approximately 60,000; it has been limited by the proximity of a railroad track to the facility, a highway behind the back stretch, and the still-present pond.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

1996 Mountain Dew Southern 500 NASCAR Race Results

Below are the race results for 1996 Mountain Dew Southern 500, in order of finishing place.

Fin	Driver	Num	Start	Money	Laps	Status	Sponsor
1	Jeff Gordon	24	2	$99,630	367	running	DuPont Refinishes
3	Mark Martin	6	6	$45,430	367	running	Valvoline
4	Ken Schrader	25	4	$40,590	366	running	Budweiser
5	John Andretti	37	15	$32,120	366	running	Kmart / Little Caesars
6	Bobby Labonte	18	21	$33,315	366	running	Interstate Batteries
7	Ernie Irvan	28	13	$31,070	366	running	Texaco Havoline
8	Sterling Marlin	4	5	$32,750	366	running	Kodak Film
9	Bill Elliott	94	26	$26,020	366	running	McDonald's
10	Lake Speed	9	37	$30,630	366	running	Spam / Melling
11	Johnny Benson, Jr.	30	27	$0	365	running	Pennzoil
12	Dale Earnhardt	3	12	$30,545	365	running	GM Goodwrench Service
13	Kenny Wallace	81	14	$17,455	365	running	Square D / T.I.C.
14	Dale Jarrett	88	1	$128,165	365	running	Quality Care / Ford Credit
15	Todd Bodine	27	16	$14,075	365	running	Blair Motorsports
16	Ricky Rudd	10	18	$27,805	365	running	Tide
17	Kyle Petty	42	41	$23,635	364	running	Coors Light
18	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	77	25	$0	363	running	Jasper Engines / Federal Mogul
19	Bobby Hamilton	43	31	$22,980	362	running	STP
20	Chad Little	29	7	$20,910	362	running	Cartoon Network
21	Geoffrey Bodine	7	3	$26,750	362	running	QVC
22	Rick Mast	1	9	$23,230	362	running	Hooters
23	Jimmy Spencer	23	17	$21,985	362	running	Camel Cigarettes
24	Morgan Shepherd	75	38	$14,710	359	running	Remington Arms
26	Terry Labonte	5	8	$27,440	358	running	Kellogg's Corn Flakes
27	Robert Pressley	33	42	$21,130	355	running	Skoal Bandit
28	Brett Bodine	11	19	$20,920	355	running	Lowe's
29	Ted Musgrave	16	20	$20,710	354	running	Family Channel / Primestar
30	Dave Marcis	71	29	$13,650	353	running	Prodigy
31	Jeff Burton	99	39	$12,965	347	running	Exide Batteries
32	Darrell Waltrip	17	34	$17,375	340	running	Parts America
33	Michael Waltrip	21	22	$17,310	333	running	Citgo
34	Derrike Cope	12	11	$17,275	316	running	Badcock
35	Gary Bradberry	95	32	$10,165	286	running	Shoney's Restaurants
36	Dick Trickle	90	30	$10,105	284	engine	Heilig-Meyers
37	Jeremy Mayfield	98	24	$10,041	191	crash	RCA
38	Rusty Wallace	2	28	$24,895	102	engine	Miller
39	Ed Berrier	60	33	$9,895	57	oil leak	Berrier Racing
40	Ward Burton	22	35	$25,395	54	crash	MBNA America
41	Loy Allen, Jr.	19	23	$0	23	crash	Healthsource
42	Ricky Craven	41	40	$16,895	10	engine	Kodiak