The 1995 Food City 500 was the sixth stock car race of the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 35th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, April 2, 1995, in Bristol, Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.533 miles (0.858 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. At race's end, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his fifth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace and owner-driver Darrell Waltrip would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 6 of 31 in the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1995 Food City 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. Artwork by Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | April 2, 1995 | ||
| Official name | 35th 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 | 92.011 miles per hour (148.077 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 76,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Roush Racing | ||
| Time | 15.399 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 205 | ||
| 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 | ||
Background
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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.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 31, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 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, April 1, 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 21-32 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; up to four provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.
Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 15.399 and an average speed of 124.605 miles per hour (200.532 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Nine drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editReferences
edit- ^ Higgins, Tom (April 3, 1995). "Jeff Gordon flashes to third series victory". The Ottawa Citizen. p. 38. Retrieved December 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Macenka, Joe (April 3, 1995). "Gordon is well-rounded". Morning Sentinel. p. 18. Retrieved December 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Nuts and Bolts". The Charlotte Observer. March 31, 1995. p. 17. Retrieved December 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Macenka, Joe (April 1, 1995). "Martin edges Gordon for pole at Bristol". Messenger-Inquirer. p. 15. Retrieved December 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
