CS Knowledge Base

The 1995 Winston Select 500 was the ninth stock car race of the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 26th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 30, 1995, in Lincoln, Alabama at Talladega Superspeedway, a 2.66 miles (4.28 km) permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 188 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would manage to complete a pass for the lead with two to go and defend the field to take his 15th 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 Wood Brothers Racing driver Morgan Shepherd would finish second and third, respectively.

Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a 2.5-mile-long (4 km) tri-oval.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 28, at 4:00 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, April 29, at 11:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-38 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.

Terry Labonte, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, won the pole, setting a time of 48.725 and an average speed of 196.532 mph (316.288 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Five drivers would fail to qualify.