1996 UAW-GM Teamwork 500

Race details
Race 13 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1996 UAW-GM Teamwork 500 program cover, featuring Terry Labonte.
Date	June 16, 1996
Official name	15th Annual UAW-GM Teamwork 500
Location	Long Pond, Pennsylvania, Pocono Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Average speed	139.104 miles per hour (223.866 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	53.027
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	94
Winner
No. 24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
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 UAW-GM Teamwork 500 was the 13th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 15th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 16, 1996, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, at Pocono Raceway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) triangular permanent course. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. At race's end, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to dominate a majority of the race, leading 94 laps en route to his 14th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fifth victory of the season, and his second consecutive victory.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Rudd Performance Motorsports driver Ricky Rudd and Geoff Bodine Racing driver Geoff Bodine would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Pocono Raceway, the venue where the race was held.

The race was held at Pocono Raceway, which is a three-turn superspeedway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The track hosts two annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, as well as one Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series event. Until 2019, the track also hosted an IndyCar Series race.

Pocono Raceway is one of a very few NASCAR tracks not owned by either Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or International Speedway Corporation. It is operated by the Igdalsky siblings Brandon, Nicholas, and sister Ashley, and cousins Joseph IV and Chase Mattioli, all of whom are third-generation members of the family-owned Mattco Inc, started by Joseph II and Rose Mattioli.

Outside of the NASCAR races, the track is used throughout the year by Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and motorcycle clubs as well as racing schools and an IndyCar race. The triangular oval also has three separate infield sections of racetrack – North Course, East Course and South Course. Each of these infield sections use a separate portion of the tri-oval to complete the track. During regular non-race weekends, multiple clubs can use the track by running on different infield sections. Also some of the infield sections can be run in either direction, or multiple infield sections can be put together – such as running the North Course and the South Course and using the tri-oval to connect the two.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, May 31, 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, June 1, at 11:30 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.

Jeff Gordon, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 53.027 and an average speed of 169.725 miles per hour (273.146 km/h).^[4]

Race results

References