Motorsport News International

NASCAR: Brickyard preview 96-07-30

lad@brickyard.com (Lee Driggers)

MNI - Motorsport News International

Tue Jul 30 22:38:33 EDT 1996

Brickyard 400 Trackside Report - July 30, 1996

Welcome to the third annual Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 19th race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Notes, quotes, trivia, historical information and other items will appear on these pages through Sunday, Aug. 4.

Brickyard 400 information will be available on the Internet this week, starting Wednesday. The Web address is: http://www.brickyard.com/400. Last year's race became the first in the country to provide this service. Included in the information will be practice summaries and performance histories, qualifying results, daily Trackside Reports, driver quotes, race lineups and results.

The Winston Welcome Lunch for the media is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday in Chalet 1B behind the Speedway's flag lot. The top 20 Winston Cup drivers and car owners and other guests have been invited.

The NASCAR Winston Cup transporters will roll into the transporter parking area behind Gasoline Alley at 6 a.m. Wednesday. The trucks will open up and the garage gates will open at 7 a.m.

Brickyard 400 qualifying procedure for Busch Pole and positions in the field: Qualifying draw for order at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. One-lap qualifying Thursday to determine positions 1-25 (fastest 25 locked into field). One-lap qualifying Friday for remaining cars to determine positions 26-38 (bumping to occur within those positions). Those posting unsuccessful qualifying runs Thursday may elect to "stand" on their Thursday times for Friday's session. Four provisional spots are available for positions 39-42. They're available to the top 40 teams in current 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup car owner points, in order, from the most to the least, to those who don't make the field through qualifying. This guarantees spots in the field for Jeff Gordon (car owner Hendrick Motorsports), Terry Labonte (Hendrick Motorsports), Dale Earnhardt (Richard Childress) and Dale Jarrett (Robert Yates), the current top four in points. One additional provisional spot (No. 43) is available for a past Winston Cup champion who fails to make the field through qualifying, starting with the most recent. This guarantees a spot in the field for defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon and car owner Hendrick Motorsports. If Gordon fails to make the field through qualifying, and elects to take a "champions" provisional instead of a regular provisional, it would guarantee a spot in the field for Sterling Marlin (Morgan-McClure Motorsports), who is fifth in current NASCAR Winston Cup points.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Wednesday, July 31 5 a.m. -- Credential gates open 9 a.m. -- Public gates open: Admission $5 -- IMS Hall of Fame Museum open: Admission $2 1-5 p.m. -- NASCAR Winston Cup practice.

Thursday, Aug. 1 5 a.m. -- Credential gates open 7 a.m. -- Public gates open: Admission $10. -- IMS Hall of Fame Museum open: Admission $2. 9:30-11:30 -- NASCAR Winston Cup practice 1 p.m. -- Qualifying to determine positions 1-25.

Friday, Aug. 2 5 a.m. -- Credential gates open 7 a.m. -- Public gates open: Admission $10 -- IMS Hall of Fame Museum open: Admission $2 10-11:30 a.m. -- NASCAR Winston Cup practice 1 p.m. -- Qualifying to determine positions 26-38. To follow -- One-hour practice as time permits.

Saturday, Aug. 3 12 a.m. -- Credential gate 9A open. 6 a.m. -- Public gates open. All seats sold out. No general admission. 7:30 a.m. -- Band concert 8 a.m. -- First cars pushed to track. 10:15 a.m. -- Drivers/crew chiefs meeting. 10:25 a.m. -- Indiana State University band concert 10:45 a.m. -- Cars in starting positions. 11:10 a.m. -- IMS/Festival Caravan parade lap 11:20 a.m. -- Parachute jump/"America the Beautiful", U.S. Army Special Forces Parachute Team and Indiana State University band. 11:30 a.m. -- Driver introductions and presentation of NASCAR series awards, followed by caravan lap 11:55 a.m. -- Track inspection 12:03 p.m. -- Invocation, by Rev. Howard Brammer. 12:06 p.m. -- National Anthem, by Steve Wariner. 12:07 p.m. -- F-16 flyover, Indiana Air National Guard 12:09 p.m. -- Starting command, balloon spectacle. 12:10 p.m. -- Parade lap. 12:12 p.m. -- Pace lap. 12:15 p.m. -- Start of 3rd Annual Brickyard 400.

The Busch Pole winner of the Brickyard 400 can win $45,600 in Unocal 76 Challenge bonus prize money by winning the race. Unocal 76, official fuel supplier to NASCAR, posts $7,600 at every NASCAR Winston Cup race payable to the winner of the event if he's also the pole winner. If the award is not claimed, it "rolls over" at the next race. Jeff Gordon was the last winner at the UAW-GM Teamwork 500 June 16 at Pocono and the Brickyard 400 is the sixth race since that time.

NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES POINT STANDINGS

Top 10 Winston Cup Points Unocal 76 Point Fund Standings Points Wins Dale Earnhardt 2,608 1. Jeff Gordon 2,631 6 Sterling Marlin 2,285 2. Terry Labonte 2,622 1 Bobby Hamilton 2,029 3. Dale Earnhardt 2,608 2 4. Dale Jarrett 2,549 2 Sears Diehard Racer Award 5. Sterling Marlin 2,285 2 Miles Completed 6. Ricky Rudd 2,260 0 Kyle Petty 6,690.485 7. Rusty Wallace 2,247 4 Jimmy Spencer 6,468.884 8. Ken Schrader 2,216 0 Rick Mast 6,450.915 9. Mark Martin 2,192 0 10. Ernie Irvan 2,188 1

Rookie of the Year Manufacturers Championship Johnny Benson 173 Points Wins Randy MacDonald 31 Chevrolet 139 11 Stacy Compton 19 Ford 129 7 Pontiac 74 0

All information courtesy of MNI - Motorsport News International

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