1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 (July)
The 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event held on July 16, 1995, at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Background. Pocono Raceway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Pocono Raceway is a three-turn superspeedway that is long. The track's turns are banked differently; the first is banked at 14°, the second turn at 8° and the final  turn with 6°. However, each of the three straightaways are banked at 2°. Race report. Randy MacDonald and Terry Byers were the only two drivers not to qualify for this event. Nearly 13% of the race was held under a caution flag and the average green flag run was slightly more than 29 laps. Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, and Morgan Shepherd's good attempts at qualifying made this the first race of 1995 where Fords started 1-2-3. Elliott's pole was his first of the season, earning him a spot in the 1996 Busch Clash. Ted  Musgrave was on a roll heading into this race as he had a very solid 1995 and looked to be heading to his first career win. He also traditionally ran very well at Pocono so he was a very popular sleeper pick heading into the race after a strong qualifying run, but his race was almost over before it began. Ted had some valve issues that got repaired before the green even waved, but they sorted it out and he got running in time for the green and still managed to finish in fourth place. 41 drivers were a part  of this race; all of them were born in the United States of America. Dale Jarrett managed to defeat Jeff Gordon almost two-tenths of a second after a duel over the last 20 laps; Jarrett really did need to get this win. At this time Yates was a stronger team than Gibbs and that's why Jarrett left Gibbs for Yates. It had to be tough for him watching Bobby Labonte go to victory lane a couple of times in the team he helped build while he struggled in one of the very top cars of the time. Ricky  Craven led two laps just before the halfway point of the race. Notably, those two laps were a part of the six leads that he would lead in the 1995 Winston Cup Series season. Jarrett, however, ran out of gas coming to the checkered flag; needing Michael Waltrip's help to be pushed to victory lane. Formal attendance records were never kept for this three-hour-and-forty-nine-minute racing event. This was the first top ten finish for Cale Yarborough Motorsports since May of 1993 when Derrike Cope drove the #98 Ford. Not only the first top ten  finish for Cale but also the first career top ten finish for Jeremy Mayfield, who took over the ride one year earlier at this very event as a young rookie. Speeds during this race reached up to and 37 changes were made to the leader's position. Five cautions slowed the race for 25 laps; primarily for debris and accidents. Three drivers were considered the odds-on favorite going into the actual race: Ted Musgrave, Derrike Cope and Steve Grissom. This race was the most competitive (37 lead changes among 13 drivers) since 1983 and once again the lead changed  twice a lap on several laps.