|| *Comments on the 1996 Food City 500:* View the most recent comment <#36> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jake posted: 08.19.2004 - 6:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The race was shortened due to rain. 2. Dalejrfan14 posted: 03.14.2006 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (8) DER!!!!!you think we dont know that!? 3. tony posted: 03.24.2006 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not only was it shortened due to rain, it was stopped because of DW losing a fuel cell in the wall of turn 4 4. HomeDepot20TS posted: 04.18.2006 - 5:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Waltrip's wreck was huge. I'd never seen a car with the front in perfect and the back end that smashed in. 5. Steve posted: 06.20.2006 - 7:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) A few other notable things about this race: Dick Trickle scored his lone Top 10 of the 1996 season (8th), Mike Skinner led his first Winston Cup laps (he led 10 laps, finished 36th), and reigning Busch Champion and eventual Winston Cup Rookie-of-the-Year Johnny Benson failed to qualify, as did Mike Wallace (#90) and Bobby Hillin Jr (#77). 6. Anonymous posted: 06.20.2007 - 8:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) John Andretti also failed to qualify. 7. Anonymous posted: 07.15.2007 - 2:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The weather was absolutely HORRID furing this race. It rained all day, but NASCAR ran the race anyway and the race went green for 232 straight laps between the 3rd and 4th cautions before it began to finally downpour. 8. Anonymous posted: 10.06.2008 - 2:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DER!!!!!you think we dont know that!? Dalejrfan14 lol 9. Art D posted: 06.26.2009 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 12th career win for J. Gordon 10. SoxFan24 posted: 11.18.2009 - 3:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 12 career win for Jeff Gordon as previously noted and also 2nd at Bristol and 2nd Consecutive Spring Bristol Race win for Mr Gordon 11. SoxFan24 posted: 11.18.2009 - 3:30 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 2nd time Jeff Gordon won back to back races in a season 12. Anonymous posted: 07.02.2010 - 5:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) First NASCAR race I ever got to see in person. The weather sucked the whole day, but I was hoping they'd get the race in. Everything just looks so much different in person. I despise Gordon, but it was quite an experience. The race itself wasn't nearly as entertaining as trying to get out of the mud soaked field across from the track after it was all over. Had a '94 Cavalier at the time, the only time in my life I've been thankful to have a front wheel drive car. 13. rateus posted: 05.18.2013 - 12:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is the Johnny Steele who DNQ'd here really the same guy who made his final start way back in 1971? That's a heck of a lay-off... 14. Anonymous posted: 03.16.2014 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was this the race when Mark Martin lost power steering early? 15. Anthony posted: 10.06.2016 - 10:11 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Only time will tell if this race gets on Youtube. Somone's gotta do it! 16. Evan posted: 10.17.2016 - 6:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think you may have gotten your wish, here's the 1996 Food City 500. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLFrf2KvloQ 17. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 10.17.2016 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) As mentioned, this race has-at long last-turned up on Youtube. Several crashes interrupted the action early. Lake Speed got loose going into turn 3 after contact with Joe Nemechek while trying to pass the #87, but managed to save it...just as Elton Sawyer and Ken Schrader got alongside of him. Schrader clipped the apron and slid up into Sawyer, who then skidded into Speed. Speed's #9 backed it hard into the turn 4 wall and spun all the way down into the inside wall on the frontstretch, while Sawyer also clobbered the fourth turn wall and Schrader's #25 was bent up as well. (Schrader should be added to the list of cars involved in the first caution, he did spend some time in the garage repairing the Budweiser Chevy after the accident.) Sterling Marlin also spun out right behind the incident. Just a few laps after the restart Kenny Wallace, who had been running in the top 10 earlier, went into the turn 3 wall after a bump from Hut Stricklin. Wallace spun back down the track, and most everyone was able to avoid him, but Bobby Hamilton tried to turn down onto the asphalt apron, which was wet from rain earlier in the afternoon. The #43 could not stop in time and wound up t-boning the Square D Ford right in front of the driver's door. After that caution, Mike Skinner, who impressed by qualifying sixth in a part-time trial effort for his '97 rookie campaign, began backing up spots on the outside. As Ward Burton tried to pass him off the fourth corner, Skinner got loose and Burton spun around and slapped the inside wall, severely damaging the left front of the #22. Skinner stayed out during the caution and wound up leading the race, his first laps led of his entire Cup career. But on lap 70, Skinner lost control all on his own, spun and backed the #31 hard into the outside wall. He limped to the pits, made a couple more laps, and called it a day. Joe Nemechek also smacked the wall at about the same time, but no yellow flew for either incident. The race went green from there all the way up until lap 320 when a rain shower briefly brought the race to a halt. When the race resumed, they only went a few laps before Geoff Bodine made contact with Darrell Waltrip in turn 4 and the #17 backed extremely hard into the wall. The impact totally flattened the back of DW's car and broke open the fuel tank, which caused a long stream of gasoline to be dumped out onto the track. Remarkably, there was no fire, but the race had to be red-flagged again to clean up the fuel spill. They were only able to complete a few more laps under yellow before the rains came back and brought an end to the race altogether. Only 5 cars had been on the lead lap prior to DW's accident, but Jarrett was able to squeak back onto the lead lap racing back to the caution. 18. RaceFanX posted: 10.17.2016 - 9:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dick Trickle shocks everyone as he claims a top-10 in Tri-Star's #19 Healthsource Ford while filling in for the injured Loy Allen, Jr. This was the last top-10 for Mark Smith's team and its only one of 1996. The short fields at Bristol often led to some shock DNQs back in the 1990s. John Andretti and Johnny Benson, Jr. would not be drivers you would normally expect to be on the hauler early in the weekend during this era, it was the only DNQ for either driver this season. Ironically Benson was the polesitter two races earlier at Atlanta yet missed the field here, this would be the first of just four DNQs for him in his Cup career. 19. JSPorts posted: 10.17.2016 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Now, they would throw a caution for anything. I wish it could be the way it was, when a caution was only called when there was really a danger to other drivers on the track. I look at what F1 does, NASCAR would be less gimmicky if they used the caution flag for its intended purpose, not just when Kyle Busch has fresh tires and there are 20 laps to go. 20. JSPorts posted: 10.17.2016 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Awesome! I need to watch this at some point. 21. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 10.17.2016 - 9:30 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) There was also another incident during the long green flag-run, Robert Pressley went for a couple of spins in between turns 1 and 2. To be fair, I think part of the reason why NASCAR might not have thrown the yellows for either incident (I could've seen one being thrown for Skinner because he did hit the wall pretty hard) was because of the threat of rain in the area and they were trying to reach the halfway point. Though it certainly is true NASCAR WAS a lot less trigger happy with the yellow flag in those days... 22. JSPorts posted: 10.17.2016 - 10:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I can remember just a few years ago when a spin at a short track or road course wouldn't always bring out a caution. Now, if that happens, it's almost a certainty. 23. Jason24 posted: 10.18.2016 - 1:12 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @22, I watched the 2002 February Busch race from Daytona and there were two spins off turn 2 in the last 6 laps and the yellow was never thrown. I literally had to pick my jaw up off the ground. Now they throw yellows for pieces of tape on the apron out of the racing groove. 24. 42KylePettt42 posted: 10.18.2016 - 8:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @23 If you want to see a race how NASCAR used to be on avoiding cautions, go watch the 1996 Busch series race at Milwaukee. It's insane lol 25. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 10.18.2016 - 8:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Three straight red flags in this race: one for rain (race resumed for 3 laps), one for the fuel spill (went back under caution) and then again for rain (race over). 26. RaceFanX posted: 10.18.2016 - 8:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In the era before the "green-white-checkered" was expanded from the Trucks to all series it was common to see NASCAR try their darnedest to avoid a caution in the closing laps because if a yellow came out it would most likely end the race. They started throwing red flags in the closing laps if possible around 1999 but before that it could get pretty wild...of course the image a lot of fans have today that "racing is only exciting when everyone is grouped together like on restarts" probably plays into today's style as well. 27. RaceFanX posted: 10.18.2016 - 8:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Skinner's entry in this race was one of the coolest aspects about it as the reigning Truck series champion made the second of his five Cup starts in 1996 leading up to his full-time rookie campaign in 1997. It was quite cool to see Skinner run so well, qualifying up front and as noted above leading early, before he knocked the back off the #31 Chevy and got sent to the sidelines early on. Skinner's #31 had new colors in this race as RealTree Camouflage made its debut as a NASCAR Winston Cup primary sponsor. The team only sponsored Skinner in 1996 but the company would be become a full-time sponsor in 1997 with RCR's good ally Dave Marcis, Skinner's white with camo-colored numbers look that debuted here would be the basis for the paint scheme on Marcis' #71 later. RealTree is still involved with sponsoring cars at RCR today. 28. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 10.18.2016 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill Elliott, Rick Mast, Dick Trickle, and Robert Pressley pitted under the first yellow flag, and stayed out with Skinner when the majority of the field pitted under the caution for Ward Burton's crash. Elliott inherited the lead when Skinner crashed, led for 38 laps after starting last due to taking a champion's provisional, and hung in the top 5 for a while, but faded badly over the long green flag run, dipping back into the low teens. It didn't really work for Pressley either, but it ended up working out well for Mast and Trickle. Mast hung onto the top 10 for nearly 200 laps and finished in 12th, a particularly gutsy performance since he was racing while sick with the flu (he had David Green on standby in case he couldn't make the distance, but didn't need him). It worked out best for Trickle, though-he remained in the top 10 for virtually the entire remainder of the event, and scored his lone top 10 of the 1996 season. Dale Jarrett qualified 7th but had to start last due to going to a back-up car after he totaled the primary on his second lap of qualifying. He had a long hard fight to get through the field, and with the long green flag run, eventually got lapped. He did manage to claw his way forwards into the top 10 during the long green flag run, and made up his lap coming back to the caution for the DW crash. There was one more on-track incident in this race; it happened racing back to the caution flag for rain on lap 320. Jeff Burton and Elliott were fighting to get laps back, but Burton punted Elliott in turn 3 and the McDonald's Ford nosed into the outside wall. Elliott was unhappy with getting wrecked and drove up alongside Burton under the yellow to show his displeasure. He went to the garage for repairs and came back just before the race ended for rain, minus a front end. The race was called right at dusk. Had they been able to restart this one and run the final 158 laps, it would've been similar to the 2014 and 2015 spring races here-starting in the daytime and finishing at night under the lights (indeed, ESPN was hopeful that this one would be resumed under the lights). Gordon hadn't even found out he had officially been credited with winning the race until Jerry Punch began the winner's interview with him. 29. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 10.27.2016 - 7:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) To the rear of the field: #88-Dale Jarrett (backup car) Jarrett earned the 7th starting position but on his second lap of qualifying coming off the fourth corner he lost control and spun and hit the inside wall head on, sliding back up to the top of the track in turn 1. Jarrett's car was too badly damaged to be repaired, and so the #88 crew used their backup car in the race. DJ had to fight very hard without the aid of many yellow flags to claw his way up from starting last into the top 10 by the halfway point, and came away with a strong 6th place run. Considering how strongly he ran in charging his way through the pack and the fact that he just got back on the lead lap before the final caution, he could've been a factor for the win if the race had been able to resume. Joe Nemechek also hit the wall in qualifying (he spun off the second corner on his second lap and backed into the outside wall), but his crew were able to repair the car and he did not have to go to the backup. 30. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 07.31.2017 - 1:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Smith's last top-10 as an owner. It's still TriStar Motorsports last top-10 in Cup with as recent as Cole Whitt finishing 12th at Indy the same day Mark died being one of the team's best efforts. 31. NEPAracefan posted: 02.26.2018 - 3:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I remember this race vividly! I was a Syracuse basketball fan and they had won their Final 4 game the evening before against Mississippi State and were set to play Kentucky Monday night (the next night, April 1st) for the national title. I was also a Rusty fan so i knew he always had a great chance to win at Bristol. As a result I was hoping to do some celebrating that weekend. Ultimately, this race battled terrible weather all day and Rusty finished 5th after leading a bunch of laps before Gordon took over until the end. The 'Cuse put up a solid fight before losing to UK the following night. Rick "The Snake" Pitino earns his ONLY national title. 2013* Louisville...Gordon had to be cheating too, right!?!? JK... 32. RaceFanX posted: 02.23.2019 - 12:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty Wallace celebrates the 10th anniversary of his first-ever NASCAR Winston Cup victory here at Bristol with a strong top-5 run that saw him lead a nice chunk of the the race. 33. Jimnsimforever posted: 03.18.2019 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There would've only been 36 cars in this field but Bill Elliott, who was eligible to take one of the 4 points provisional spots, elected to take the champions provisional instead to allow another car to be able to make the race. 34. Jimnsimforever posted: 03.18.2019 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Speaking of Bill Elliott, he really didn't get too upset that often on the race track, during or after races. This was the most mad I'd ever seen him get since the 1987 The Winston all star race. Jeff Burton got into the back of him and Bill went into the wall, smashing in the front end of Bill's car. Elliott got the car rolling again and because the caution had just been thrown for rain right before the incident took place he sped around the outside of the line of car's until he got up beside Jeff Burton and you could see him shaking his fist outside the window net and then turned his car into Burton's and gave him a good tap. This incident was talked about in post 28 but I thought I'd talk about what Bill did exactly. 35. Steve posted: 04.27.2019 - 8:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) As of 2019, this is the last Cup race with no Indy 500 veterans in the field. 36. Rich posted: 12.28.2020 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons were the commentators. Dr. Jerry Punch, John Kernan and Bill Weber were the pit road reporters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: