ACDelco 400 Preview

What: ACDelco 400
When: October 21, 1996
Where: North Carolina Motor Speedway
Location: Rockingham, North Carolina
Race 29 of 31 on Winston Cup Circuit
 
Laps: 393
Track length: 1.017 miles
Race length: 400 miles
Banking: 22 degrees Turns 1&2
         25 degrees Turns 3&4
 
TV: TNN, 12:30 PM EDT
Radio: MRN Radio Live, 12:15 pm EDT
 
Event Qualifying Record: Ricky Rudd, 157.099 mph, 1994
Event record: Kyle Petty, 130.748 mph, 1992  
 
 
DRIVERS TO WATCH
 
Dale Earnhardt -- has a pair of successive top-10 finishes, and 
    could finish the season with a healthy run; won the spring race, 
    and would become the eighth driver to sweep at Rockingham; has 
    three wins and 24 top-10s in 35 career starts at Rockingham -- 
    including a win in the 1994 fall race; hasn't won in 24 races, 
    his longest winless streak since 1984; he is 271 points out of the 
    Winston Cup lead, and unlikely to get back in the hunt with only 
    three races remaining...but anything is possible.
 
Jeff Gordon -- if he ever needed a change of luck, now is the 
    time; the final four races of the season have been unkind to 
    Gordon, who averages a 20th place finish over the final four 
    races in the two previous years; discounting Phoenix, where 
    Gordon has posted top-five finishes the last two years, his 
    average finish dips to 26th; at Rockingham, Gordon has an 
    average finish of 23rd in three fall races; has led 26 percent 
    of the laps run this season, and has led in 23 of the 28 races 
    run this season; Gordon has collected a series-high 160 bonus 
    points, which account for his one point lead over Terry Labonte 
    for the top spot in the overall Winston Cup race.
 
Dale Jarrett -- with one point separating the top two contenders 
    in the points fight, it would be easy, but foolish to overlook 
    Jarrett who is 92 points back in third; Jarrett leads the 
    series in points earned on superspeedways this season (2,712), 
    and the final three races are all on superspeedways; Jarrett has 
    11 top-fives and 13 top-10s in the 18 superspeedway events run 
    this year; he has led at least one lap in 15 of the 18 events on 
    superspeedways this year; never a winner at Rockingham, and has 
    just three top-10s in 18 career starts at Rockingham.
 
Terry Labonte -- among the trio at the top of the points 
    standings, he has the best record over the course of the last 
    three races; over the last two years, Labonte averages a seventh 
    place finish during the last four races -- considerably better 
    than the 13th-place average of Dale Jarrett and the 20th-place 
    average posted by Jeff Gordon; has scored the second most points 
    on superspeedways, behind Jarrett; has finished in the top 
    five in eight of the last 10 races, and has series-best average 
    finish of 8.71 through 28 races; a two-time winner with 
    19 top-10s in 35 starts at Rockingham.
 
Mark Martin -- has 12 straight top-10 finishes, best current 
    streak on the Winston Cup circuit; it's been a full year since 
    his last win; has an average finish of 6.17 over the last six 
    races, tying him with Jeff Gordon for top mark in the Winston 
    Cup series; has one win and 10 top-10s in 20 career starts at 
    Rockingham.
 
Rusty Wallace -- his five wins remain second best on the 
    circuit, and although he has no stake in the points race, he is 
    always a threat to win; the leading active winner at Rockingham 
    with five wins; his overall record at Rockingham is much like 
    Wallace's season -- all or nothing; in 25 career starts at 
    Rockingham, Wallace has 11 top-10s (including the five wins); in 
    his last five races, Wallace has four top-10 finishes.