1996 Food City 500

Race details
Race 6 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1996 Food City 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. Artwork by Sam Bass.
Date	March 31, 1996
Official name	36th Annual Food City 500
Location	Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol Motor Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.533 mi (0.858 km)
Distance	342 laps, 182.286 mi (293.36 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Average speed	91.308 miles per hour (146.946 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Mark Martin	Roush Racing
Time	15.527
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	148
Winner
No. 24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1996 Food City 500 was the sixth stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 36th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 31, 1996, in Bristol, Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.533 miles (0.858 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race was shortened from its scheduled 500 laps to 342 laps due to rain. At race's end, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to dominate a majority of the race to take his 12th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Hendrick Motorsports driver Terry Labonte and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.

The Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 29, at 3:00 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, March 30, at 12:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-32 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.

Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 15.527 and an average speed of 123.578 miles per hour (198.880 km/h).^[4]

Six drivers would fail to qualify: Mike Wallace, John Andretti, Johnny Benson Jr., Dave Marcis, Bobby Hillin Jr., and Chuck Bown.