1996 Goodwrench Service 400

The 1996 Goodwrench Service 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now the NASCAR Cup Series event held at North Carolina Speedway on February 25, 1996. Dale Earnhardt drove to victory, leading nearly a hundred laps and holding off Dale Jarrett. Two races into the year, Jarrett and Earnhardt were tied for the points lead.

Terry Labonte of Hendrick Motorsports won the pole position of the race.

Background
Rockingham Speedway, known as North Carolina Motor Speedway in 1965, began as a project of Harold Brasington and Bill Land. Brasington had relevant experience from his involvement in building the Darlington Raceway, which was NASCAR's first superspeedway. Bill Land owned the property at the time, and together they set out to find funding. They went to local lawyer Elsie Webb who assembled a group of backers. The duo also sold shares to the locals for $1 per share, and at one time had about 1,000 shareholders.

The speedway was built as a one-mile oval with flat turns. North Carolina Motor Speedway opened on October 31, 1965, holding its first race on the same day. The American 500 was a 500-lap, 500-mile NASCAR Grand National Series race won by Curtis Turner at an average speed of 101.942 miles per hour. Turner dominated the race, which was attended by 35,000 people, leading 239 laps and winning by 11 seconds. The winner's purse was $13,090. The American 500 was the 54th of 55 races in the 1965 season, which included NASCAR legends Cale Yarborough (who finished second), Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett (who would go on to win the championship), Buddy Baker, David Pearson, and Junior Johnson. Only 19 of the 43 cars were running at the end of the race.

It is also known as The Rock and previously hosted NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, ARCA, CARS Tour, and UARA-Stars races.

Summary
On lap 343 Earnhardt and Bobby Hamilton had traded the lead three times in the previous three laps when Earnhardt punted Hamilton in Turn Four; Hamilton scraped the wall and later crashed because of damage from the earlier scrape.