October 22, 1995 – Ward Burton won the AC-Delco 400 at the North Carolina Motor Speedway after a bizarre set of circumstances. Here's an excerpt from the
1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Yearbook:
The drama began on lap 327 when [Dale] Earnhardt hit pit road under green while running sixth. One of the orange-painted lug nuts on a replacement tire fell off, so the tire changer slapped a black replacement on with a healthy "brraaap" of the air wrench. Because it was the same color as the black wheel, a NASCAR inspector, eye-balling the tire to make sure all the lug nuts were on, saw only four orange-colored nuts. After Earnhardt was back on the track, he was shown the black flag to return to have the lug nuts inspected. Dale headed to pit road. When he stopped, it was clear that all five lug nuts were on the wheel. He was waved back into action, but the stop had cost him a lap and dropped him from his contending sixth position to 14th.
NASCAR immediately began searching for a way to remedy the situation with equity and made the decision to display the caution flag. It was an unprecedented move: NASCAR would allow Earnhardt to make up the lost lap. During the caution, however, Dale and three other drivers pitted for fresh tires, willing to go to the end of the longest line of cars on the track for violating the "closed pits" flag displayed during the initial laps of the yellow. NASCAR then allowed all teams who desired to change tires to do so, so all would be on equal footing for the upcoming green flag. Officials lined the cars up in the order they were in before the caution flag and made preparations to restart the race with nine laps to go.
Burton, leading at the final restart, went on to win the race uncontested. It was his first-career Winston Cup victory, as well as the first for owner Bill Davis. Complete results can be found
here.
Racing Champions produced this car in 1996 as part of its "1996 Preview Edition."
