1996 Jiffy Lube 300

Race details
Race 16 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1996 Jiffy Lube 300 program cover, featuring Jeff Gordon.
Date	July 14, 1996
Official name	4th Annual Jiffy Lube 300
Location	Loudon, New Hampshire, New Hampshire International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.058 mi (1.704 km)
Distance	300 laps, 317.4 mi (510.805 km)
Scheduled Distance	300 laps, 317.4 mi (510.805 km)
Average speed	98.93 miles per hour (159.21 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Ricky Craven	Larry Hedrick Motorsports
Time	29.439
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	59
Winner
No. 28	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
Television in the United States
Network	TNN
Announcers	Eli Gold, Buddy Baker, Dick Berggren
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1996 Jiffy Lube 300 was the 16th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the fourth iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, July 14, 1996, in Loudon, New Hampshire, at New Hampshire International Speedway, a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) permanent, oval-shaped, low-banked racetrack. The race took the scheduled 300 laps to complete. In an emotional victory, Robert Yates Racing driver Ernie Irvan, who had recently came back from a near-fatal crash at the 1994 GM Goodwrench Dealer 400, would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 13th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his first victory of the season, and his first victory in over two years.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett and Rudd Performance Motorsports driver Ricky Rudd would finish second and third, respectively.

New Hampshire International Speedway is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as an IndyCar weekend and the oldest motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval. The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, July 12, at 5:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, July 13, at 11:00 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-38 would be decided on time,^[3] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points.

Ricky Craven, driving for Larry Hedrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 29.439 and an average speed of 129.379 miles per hour (208.215 km/h).^[4]

Loy Allen Jr. was the only driver to fail to qualify.