|| *Comments on the 1996 Pepsi 400:* View the most recent comment <#18> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. HomeDepotKid posted: 01.09.2005 - 1:34 am Rate this comment: (3) (1) This was the first NASCAR race I ever went to. And it was a lot of fun, from what I remember: I spent the entire weekend in Daytona with my entire family. We attended Daytona USA when it opened to the public, and we saw the live taping of an old Eli Gold show that I don't remember the name of, or remember much about, but I DO remember who was on it with Eli: DALE EARNHARDT. He was the guest on that show that day, and my family, an Earnhardt family, went to see it. We were up front, and when I saw Earnhardt, me(and everyone else) went ballistic. That was the only thing I remember about that event. I didn't get his autograph, but seeing him in person was cool. I did get Kenny Wallace's, Geoff Bodine's, and two of the Wood Brothers' autographs however. The race was great, even though it was rain-shortened. It was also Sterling Marlin's last win before he joined Dodge in 2001. But it was a great time, going to Daytona. 2. Thomas Wells posted: 11.07.2005 - 8:43 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think it was called Race Talk, and it was on TNN. 3. myself posted: 02.19.2007 - 3:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At the end of this shortened race, there was enough lightening in the sky to light up New York City! The race concluded a 5+ year run of the #4 being a dominant car on the plate tracks! 4. SK posted: 11.11.2007 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brett Bodine's sole top-10 in his first season as owner/driver. 5. adamal82 posted: 09.09.2008 - 1:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) if i am not mistaken this was dave marcis' 800th start in which NASCAR gave him a new pair of wingtips 6. Barry Avery posted: 03.23.2010 - 2:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was in the new stands off of turn 2. The lightning was scary and the rain after the race could have drowned a fish. The race was shortened and it had not yet showed all that it was going to be - a wild finish. 7. 18fan posted: 07.09.2010 - 1:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rick Mast's 200th Cup start. 8. RaceFanX posted: 01.08.2012 - 10:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bill Elliott returned from his injuries at Talladega in this race. Awesome Bill didn't run the whole race though as late in the race with his car already several laps behind he climbed out and let the already out of the race Derrike Cope finish the race driving the McDonald's Ford in relief. After the caution for the three-car crash on lap 100 everyone knew weather was moving in and it bacame an all-out trophy dash. The Hendrick cars ran 2-3-4 behind Marlin but were not able to make a move. A pack of 5 Chevrolets led most of the closing stages but another group of several Fords ran them down with Ken Schrader (in a special red, white and blue paint job to promote the upcoming Summer Olympics) losing his top-5 off turn 4 on the past lap as Ernie Irvan and others sped by. The storm that ended this race caused the Goodyear Blimp to have to land about 10 laps before weather moved in. Weather was a problem all day for the race which had its then-normal 11 a.m. start pushed back three hours by the weather before the second storm ended the race early. Remember Daytona did not have serious lights for night NASCAR racing at this time (only limited ones for the 24 Hours of Daytona). This race was to have a 43-car field and all drivers who attempted did qualify. The #57 Matco Tools Ford of Steve Seligman though blew an engine in practice and had to withdraw, quite a shame as this would have been Seligman's first and only Cup start. Seligman only attempted one more Cup race at Indianapolis the following month. The Olympic flame passed through Daytona the day after this race on its way to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics. 9. RaceFanX posted: 06.26.2012 - 4:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors: #25 Ken Schrader- Budweiser / US Olympic Team (Schrader ran this scheme in every race from here up to and including the 1996 Brickyard 400) #42 Kyle Petty Coors Light / iD4 Independence Day As previously mentioned in 1996 the United States hosting the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the last time to date the USA has done so. The games began in mid-July and Budweiser launched a multi-race tie-in paint scheme for Ken Schrader's car in this race in this race. The all-red Bud ride gained white stripes and a blue lining for the next several races as the games took place. The most interesting feature of the Olympic paint job was the addition of gold, silver and bronze medals to the car; over the course of the games numbers were put on the medals indicating how many of each US athletes had won during the games. 10. Evan posted: 12.22.2013 - 11:06 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The big announcement during this week's race was Kyle Petty going back to Petty Enterprises and starting his own racing team with sponsorship from Hot Wheels, PE-2 which was still essentially a Petty Enterprises car and ran out of the same shop. The Hot Wheels paint scheme was snazzy and cool and even though it never tasted victory, it still was one of the iconic schemes of the late 1990's. 11. Philip Pegler posted: 06.28.2014 - 4:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) One of those very race occasions at Dayttona where Dale Earnhardt didn't lead a single lap. 12. Wayne posted: 10.18.2014 - 8:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sterling Marlin had an ignition issue during the race, but he managed to overcome it after switching boxes and had the lead when the race was cut short because of the rain. 13. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 10.01.2016 - 9:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #57 of Steve Seligman should be listed as withdrawn, as he made the race but was forced to withdraw after a blown engine in practice. 14. RaceFanX posted: 02.04.2017 - 11:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) As noted above Daytona USA opened two days before this race. The opening day exhibits included the #88 Quality Care / Ford Credit Ford Thunderbird Dale Jarrett won the Daytona 500 with earlier in the year. With their winning car enshrined in the museum the Yates team had to wheel out a new one here just almost as fast as Jarrett led a good chunk of the race en route to a sixth-place finish. 15. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 09.04.2017 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A lot of guys made pit stops and the rain came. Unreal. 16. RaceFanX posted: 10.05.2017 - 8:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Elliott was not expected to be in this race, it was initially thought he would be out of action for another month. It was announced during the week leading up to this race he would be back behind the wheel. 17. RaceFanX posted: 10.05.2017 - 9:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #71 Dave Marcis- Prodigy / 800 Starts This was Dave Marcis' historic 800th NASCAR Winston Cup start and he ran a special white paint scheme in place of his normal purple-and-green one to mark the occasion. Richard Childress Racing gave Marcis one of Dale Earnhardt's qualifying engines for the second round qualifying session for the occasion and it paid off as Marcis was surprisingly second fastest for the session, posting a time that would have put him eighth on the grid if he'd have done it in the first round. 18. Rich posted: 12.28.2020 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins 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: