1995 Purolator 500
The 1995 Purolator 500 was an NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on March 12, 1995 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, in Hampton, Georgia. Contested at 328 laps on the 1.522 mile (2.449 km) speedway, it was the 4th race of the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports won the race.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 4 of 31 in the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
| Date | March 12, 1995 | ||
| Official name | Purolator 500 | ||
| Location | Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.522 mi (2.449 km) | ||
| Distance | 328 laps, 499.216 mi (803.41 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 72 °F (22 °C); wind speeds up to 14.9 miles per hour (24.0 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 150.115 miles per hour (241.587 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Richard Childress Racing | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 250 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ABC | ||
| Announcers | Bob Jenkins and Benny Parsons | ||
Summary
Before the field even took the green, Mike Wallace got turned into the inside wall on the frontstretch, damaging his car before he even got a chance to race on green. Jeremy Mayfield, Michael Waltrip and Jeff Purvis were involved in a vicious crash on the backstretch on lap 144. Mayfield got turned head-on into the wall off of turn 2 so hard, the rear tires came off the ground. When he came off the wall, the car was running straight down the backstretch but he had no brakes or steering, and he veered up towards the wall again right in front of Waltrip and Purvis and got t-boned extremely hard.
Top 10 results
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 2 | 18 | Bobby Labonte | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 5 | Terry Labonte | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 4 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 5 | 28 | Dale Jarrett | Robert Yates Racing | Ford |
| 6 | 21 | Morgan Shepherd | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 7 | 4 | Sterling Marlin | Morgan-McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 8 | 10 | Ricky Rudd | Rudd Performance Motorsports | Ford |
| 9 | 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | Ford |
| 10 | 2 | Rusty Wallace | Penske Racing South | Ford |
Race Statistics
- Time of race: 3:19:32
- Average Speed: 150.115 miles per hour (241.587 km/h)
- Pole Speed: 185.077 miles per hour (297.853 km/h)
- Cautions: 5 for 27 laps
- Margin of Victory: 0.19 sec
- Lead changes: 9
- Percent of race run under caution: 8.2%
- Average green flag run: 50.2 laps
References
- Weather information at The Old Farmers' Almanac
- "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
- Race statistics at Race Database