1996 Daytona 500

1996 Daytona 500
Race details[1]
Race 1 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
1996 Daytona 500 logo
1996 Daytona 500 logo
Date February 18, 1996 (1996-02-18)
Location Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Course Permanent racing facility
2.5 mi (4.02336 km)
Distance 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 63 °F (17 °C); wind speeds approaching 13 miles per hour (21 km/h)
Average speed 154.308 miles per hour (248.335 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Richard Childress Racing
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing
Duel 2 Winner Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing
Most laps led
Driver Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports
Laps 44
Winner
No. 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing
Television in the United States
Network CBS
Announcers Ken Squier, Buddy Baker, and Ned Jarrett
Nielsen Ratings 9.2/24
(13.9 million viewers)

The 1996 Daytona 500, the 38th running of the event, was run on February 18, 1996, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, as the first race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup season. Dale Jarrett won this race for the second time after winning it in 1993 and for the first (and only) time in all of Daytona 500 history, Dale Earnhardt won the pole position, allowing many to believe that he would finally win the race. Ernie Irvan returned to race full-time alongside Earnhardt (both drivers won their respective Gatorade Twin 125-mile qualifying races).

  1. ^ "Weather of the 1996 Daytona 500". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2014-03-17.