On lap 117, a major crash involving 13 drivers, including the drivers of Dale Earnhardt and Sterling Marlin, would occur on the track's frontstretch. Marlin would be spun by hitting Ernie Irvan's front bumper, sending him into Earnhardt. Earnhardt would proceed to crash violently into the outside wall, sending Earnhardt into a flip before landing on all four wheels. In the midst of the chaos, others would be involved in the accident, with many placing blame on Irvan and Marlin for the crash. In the process, Earnhardt would be transported to the Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama where he was diagnosed with a broken sternum and a broken left collarbone.[3]
Qualifying was originally scheduled split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, July 26, at 4:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race.[4] However, on Saturday, July 27, rain would eventually force the cancellation of second-round qualifying, and the decision was made that positions 26-38 would be determined by their first round qualifying speeds 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.[5]
Jeremy Mayfield, driving for Cale Yarborough Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 49.779 and an average speed of 192.370 miles per hour (309.590 km/h) in the first round.[6]
Chad Little was the only driver to fail to qualify.
The race was due to start at 12:15pm CST but rain delayed the start time to 3:35pm and ran eleven laps before rain red flagged the race at 4:09pm with the race restarting at 4:32pm and the race starting at 4:36pm on lap thirteen.
Race Start
The Big One
On lap 116, Earnhardt was leading with Marlin on his outside and Irvan behind him, the big one happened when Irvan got into Marlin which led him to turn into Earnhardt. Earnhardt was hit in the roof by Derrike Cope and on the side by Robert Pressley. The accident also collected Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Lake Speed, Brett Bodine, Wally Dallenbach, Jr., Ward Burton, Ken Schrader, Greg Sacks and Ricky Craven. Martin had a puncture and Irvan had right front fender damage but both stayed on the lead lap, Craven fell a lap down and Bodine fell three laps down. The race was red flagged on lap 118 to clear up the cars of Earnhardt, Marlin, Pressley, Labonte, Speed, Burton, Schrader, Craven, and Dallenbach, Jr did not restart the race. Earnhardt was then sent to hospital with a broken collarbone and sternum.
Finish
Wight light fading, NASCAR elected to shorten the race with a five lap shootout from the green flag on lap 125. Gordon would win from Jarrett. The race would be completed by 7:05pm
The Diehard 500 was covered by CBS in the United States. Ken Squier, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Ned Jarrett and 1975 race winner Buddy Baker called the race from the broadcast booth. Mike Joy, David Hobbs and Dick Berggren handled pit road for the television side. Due to the rain delay, CBS aired Golf instead but aired the race as an abridge broadcast on August 4th, the day after the 1996 Brickyard 400. This would be the last race David Hobbs would work with CBS as he would leave for Speedvision to cover their Formula One races.
