|| *Comments on the 1996 Miller 400:* View the most recent comment <#21> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. je24go posted: 07.01.2005 - 12:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) One of the best finishes of 1996. Ernie Irvan lead in the late stages, but Jeff Gordon was gaining, and fast! Jeff got under Ernie in turn 3 of the final lap and they went the whole way to the line side-by-side. Ernie edged Jeff by a half-car to grab a hard-earned win. 2. Frogger49 posted: 09.16.2006 - 5:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnny Benson actually won the race off of pit road during the last caution and was in position to win his first career race. However, his handling went away. Ernie passed Benson for the win with 12 laps to go. 3. myself posted: 03.16.2007 - 2:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Final win of Ernie Irvan's controversial career. 4. Anonymous posted: 05.05.2007 - 5:16 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Ol' Wreck 'em Irvan won at Michigan in '97, so this was his next-to-last win. 5. myself posted: 05.18.2007 - 1:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First outing for the John Andretti/Cale Yarborough marriage....the only marriage that would yield Cale a points victory as an owner. 6. most posted: 02.22.2008 - 9:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I remember the talks of Andretti and Mayfield becoming rivals, guess the announcers were bored. This really propelled both of them into winners though, had the switch not happened, I dont think either would have won races down the line.... Andretti needs to be in a good car now though, not Mayfield :( 7. myself posted: 02.26.2008 - 9:58 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) The Squeal has left every ride he's been in on bad terms (Yarborough, Penske, Evernham, Davis). I think he's just a difficult person. His wife is hot, though! 8. RLB posted: 06.21.2008 - 4:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very clean finish for Gordon and Irvan. 9. myself posted: 08.17.2009 - 1:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Much has come to light on The Squeal being a Meth Head!! 10. RedChevy14 posted: 07.12.2010 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Chad Little on what happened in his wreck: "Dino got his bone crushed!" or something along those lines. 11. IRVANFAN posted: 10.01.2011 - 7:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If you had been at this race, such as I was listening to Irvan's scanner, 10 laps in, Irvan's car stalled off turn 2. and everyone thought it was over he fell from 8th - 36th. he got it re-fired and by lap 100 he took the lead from gordon. 12. RaceFanX posted: 06.26.2012 - 3:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #2 Rusty Wallace- Miller / 25 Years of Racing (Run here and all following 1996 races up to Phoenix, they reverted to their regular scheme for the finale in Atlanta) Rusty Wallace's #2 Ford had a new silver-fading-into-black look starting at this race and for most of the remainder of 1996. Miller Brewing celebrated 25 years of involvment with motorsports sponsorship with new late-season silver looks on Rusty's NASCAR stock car, Bobby Rahal's CART IndyCar and Larry Dixon's NHRA Top Fuel Dragster. 13. sk posted: 12.24.2013 - 1:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Excellent run by Jeff Burton, the best of his debut season with Roush by far. 14. sk posted: 12.24.2013 - 1:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, Jay Sauter tries but fails to qualify for his Winston Cup debut for the second straight week, in the #40 for Felix Sabates. Sauter had been expected to run a handful of Cup races down the stretch for Sabco, then take over the car full-time and run for Rookie of the Year in 1997, but less than a week after missing this race he'd sign onto Richard Childress' Truck team and take a divergent path. It would be five and a half years before Jay would attempt another Cup race - but this time he'd be successful. 15. 18fan posted: 03.20.2014 - 4:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Benson likely would've won had the race gone green without the caution for Ward Burton. 16. Sean posted: 10.31.2015 - 12:33 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I randomly watched this race yesterday and I wanted to clear up a couple misconceptions: "If you had been at this race, such as I was listening to Irvan's scanner, 10 laps in, Irvan's car stalled off turn 2. and everyone thought it was over he fell from 8th - 36th. he got it re-fired and by lap 100 he took the lead from gordon." He had to switch ignition boxes about 50 laps in shortly after the first restart, not lap 10, and he fell from 9th to 20th, and he did not take the lead until lap 300 (100 laps left, not 100 laps in). So he gained 19 positions in 250 laps, not 35 positions in 90 laps which would be *extraordinarily* difficult to do on a short track. This was still probably Irvan's 2nd most impressive win because he made nearly all those passes on the track (I would say his *most* impressive was Sears Point 1992, when he got black-flagged for jumping the start, fell to last, and came back to win). "Benson likely would've won had the race gone green without the caution for Ward Burton." Benson did look surprisingly fast but he had just been passed by Terry Labonte, who was working on Irvan before the Ward caution came out. Considering the announcers expected that Terry had enough fuel, I believe he would have won had the race gone green the rest of the way. 17. Anthony posted: 02.09.2016 - 5:41 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Last Cup race to have 40 cars starting till the 2016 Daytona 500. 18. Anonymous posted: 07.05.2017 - 7:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 6. No, because eventually, John Andretti would have ended up driving for Penske, since the 37 merged with Penske in 1998. Would have been a nice "what if", and see what John could have done in quality equipment. 19. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 09.10.2017 - 10:35 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) I remember listening to this race on a battery powered Radio because we were still without power from Hurricane Fran a few days before. 20. RaceFanX posted: 03.14.2019 - 8:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ernie Irvan's penultimate Cup win here was the second of his three victories following his comeback. This was his final short track win and his first since he won here at Richmond early in the 1994 season. Four of Irvan's 15 Cup wins were on short tracks. 21. SweetRich posted: 07.06.2020 - 12:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first race for John Andretti competing in the #98 RCA Ford for Cale Yarborough Motorsports following the switcheroo of Andretti going from Michael Kranefuss to Cale and Jeremy Mayfield going from Cale to Kranefuss. Both drivers struggled mightily in '96 in their rides before the rare move took place. John would finish as high as fifth at Martinsville later in the year while Jeremy finished as high as 15th at Dover the following week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: