1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 (July)

The 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event held on July 16, 1995, at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Background
Pocono Raceway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Pocono Raceway is a three-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 mi long. The track's turns are banked differently; the first is banked at 14°, the second turn at 8° and the final turn with 6°. However, each of the three straightaways are banked at 2°.

Race report
Randy MacDonald and Terry Byers were the only two drivers not to qualify for this event. Nearly 13% of the race was held under a caution flag and the average green flag run was slightly more than 29 laps. Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, and Morgan Shepherd's good attempts at qualifying made this the first race of 1995 where Fords started 1-2-3. Elliott's pole was his first of the season, earning him a spot in the 1996 Busch Clash. Ted Musgrave was on a roll heading into this race as he had a very solid 1995 and looked to be heading to his first career win. He also traditionally ran very well at Pocono so he was a very popular sleeper pick heading into the race after a strong qualifying run, but his race was almost over before it began. Ted had some valve issues that got repaired before the green even waved, but they sorted it out and he got running in time for the green and still managed to finish in fourth place.

41 drivers were a part of this race; all of them were born in the United States of America. Dale Jarrett managed to defeat Jeff Gordon almost two-tenths of a second after a duel over the last 20 laps; Jarrett really did need to get this win. At this time Yates was a stronger team than Gibbs and that's why Jarrett left Gibbs for Yates. It had to be tough for him watching Bobby Labonte go to victory lane a couple of times in the team he helped build while he struggled in one of the very top cars of the time. Ricky Craven led two laps just before the halfway point of the race. Notably, those two laps were a part of the six leads that he would lead in the 1995 Winston Cup Series season. Jarrett, however, ran out of gas coming to the checkered flag; needing Michael Waltrip's help to be pushed to victory lane. Formal attendance records were never kept for this three-hour-and-forty-nine-minute racing event.

Speeds during this race reached up to 134.038 mph and 37 changes were made to the leader's position. Five cautions slowed the race for 25 laps; primarily for debris and accidents. Three drivers were considered the odds-on favorite going into the actual race: Ted Musgrave, Derrike Cope and Steve Grissom. This race was the most competitive (37 lead changes among 13 drivers) since 1983 and once again the lead changed twice a lap on several laps.

Timeline
Section reference:
 * Start of race: Bill Elliott started the race with the pole position.
 * Lap 22: Caution for debris, ended on lap 25.
 * Lap 38: Hut Stricklin had engine problems.
 * Lap 76: Caution for debris, ended on lap 83.
 * Lap 93: Ken Schrader's engine started acting up.
 * Lap 97: Caution due to Bobby Labonte's accident, green flag racing resumed on lap 100.
 * Lap 108: Derrike Cope just could not keep his engine working properly.
 * Lap 136: John Andretti had an engine that suddenly quit on him.
 * Lap 144: Jimmy Helmsey went off the track while attempting to make a turn, causing a caution that ended on lap 147.
 * Lap 149: Kenny Wallace had a terminal crash, forcing him to end his race weekend early.
 * Lap 156: Darrell Waltrip's engine stopped functioning properly.
 * Lap 159: Caution due to a three-car collision, ended on lap 163.
 * Lap 186: Dave Marcis realized that his engine stopped while he was still racing.
 * Finish: Dale Jarrett was officially declared the winner of the event.