1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series - Goody's 500

Goody's 500

The Goody's 500 was held August 26 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mark Martin won the pole. This race is likely the most memorable race of the entire 1995 season due to the infamous finish of the event where Dale Earnhardt ran Terry Labonte down from 3 seconds behind in the late stages of the race and tapped him coming off Turn 4 on the last lap. This tap got Labonte loose, and then Labonte overcorrected (slightly grazing the #31 Hardees/Ferguson Chevrolet of Greg Sacks in the process). This put Labonte head on into the outside wall just beyond the start-finish line, still ahead of Earnhardt to claim the victory.

Top Ten Results

1. 5-Terry Labonte
2. 3-Dale Earnhardt
3. 28-Dale Jarrett
4. 17-Darrell Waltrip
5. 6-Mark Martin
6. 24-Jeff Gordon
7. 4-Sterling Marlin
8. 90-Mike Wallace
9. 8-Jeff Burton
10. 12-Derrike Cope, 1 Lap down

Failed to qualify: 42-Kyle Petty, 95-Joe Ruttman, 81-Kenny Wallace, 32-Jimmy Hensley, 77-Bobby Hillin, Jr., 75-Todd Bodine, 27-Elton Sawyer

• This race started roughly an hour and a half to two hours behind schedule due to persistent rains from Tropical Storm Jerry, which had made landfall to the south earlier in the week. It actually rained off and on during the race once it started, but never hard enough to cause a caution.

• This was Ward Burton's first race in the #22 MBNA America Pontiac for Bill Davis Racing. However, it was a short debut as Burton crashed out of the race and finished 34th.

• Dale Earnhardt was sent to the rear of the field after spinning Rusty Wallace coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 32. This resulted in an argument between Wallace and Earnhardt after the race where Wallace threw a water bottle at Earnhardt.

• Later in the race, Earnhardt ran into the back of Derrike Cope's #12 Mane n' Tail/Straight Arrow Ford on a restart. This significantly damaged the front of Earnhardt's car and forced him to pit road for repairs once the caution flag waved again. This was the reason why Earnhardt had to charge through the field in order to catch Terry Labonte at the end of the race.

• At one point, the #94 McDonalds Ford of Bill Elliott climbed the wall coming out of Turn 2.

• The #43 of Bobby Hamilton was given a 5 lap penalty for rough driving for wrecking the #11 Lowe's Ford of Brett Bodine twice within 20 laps.

• Lake Speed suffered from a slight case of smoke inhalation as a result of a crash on Lap 390 that broke an oil line on his #9 Spam Ford. The broken oil line (and the accompanying substantial oil leak, which was streaming down the left front fender of the car) caused a fire while Speed was trying to get the car back to his pit stall.