1995 First Union 400

Race details
Race 7 of 31 in the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1995 First Union 400 program cover, featuring Terry Labonte.
Date	April 9, 1995
Official name	45th Annual First Union 400
Location	North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.625 mi (1.006 km)
Distance	400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Scheduled Distance	400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Average speed	102.424 miles per hour (164.835 km/h)
Attendance	56,000
Pole position
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	18.945
Most laps led
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Laps	227
Winner
No. 3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1995 First Union 400 was the seventh stock car race of the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 45th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 9, 1995, in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a 0.625 miles (1.006 km) oval short track. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to dominate a majority of the race to take his 64th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of North Wilkesboro Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures 0.625 mi (1.006 km) and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. It has previously held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's original closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several stock car series races before closing again in the spring of 2011. It was re-opened in August 2022 for grassroots racing.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 24, at 2:30 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, March 25, at 10:00 AM 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; which was usually four. 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.

Jeff Gordon, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 18.945 and an average speed of 118.765 miles per hour (191.134 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Nine drivers would fail to qualify: Jeremy Mayfield, Kenny Wallace, Chuck Bown, Jay Hedgecock, Davy Jones, Billy Standridge, Jeff Purvis, Steve Kinser, and Randy MacDonald.

Race results

References