| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Date: | March 24 |
| Most Laps: | 189 |
| Pole Driver: | Ward Burton |
| Pole Team: | Bill Davis Racing |
| First Team: | Hendrick Motorsports |
| First Driver: | Jeff Gordon |
| Most Team: | Hendrick Motorsports |
| Most Driver: | Jeff Gordon |
| Car: | 24 |
| Network: | ESPN |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Season No: | 31 |
| Location: | Darlington, South Carolina, Darlington Raceway |
| Race No: | 5 |
| Avg: | 124.792mph |
| Official Name: | 40th Annual TranSouth Financial 400 |
| Race Name: | TranSouth Financial 400 |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 293 |
| Distance Laps: | 293 |
| Distance Km: | 644.12 |
| Scheduled Km: | 644.12 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 400.238 |
| Course Km: | 2.198 |
| Course Mi: | 1.366 |
| Pole Time: | 28.295 |
| Distance Mi: | 400.238 |
| Caption: | The 1996 TranSouth Financial 400 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt and Sterling Marlin. |
The 1996 TranSouth Financial 400 was the fifth stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 40th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 24, 1996, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366miles permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 293 laps to complete. With seven laps to go, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to take advantage of a disaster-stricken Dale Jarrett and pull away to take his 11th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bobby Labonte and Larry Hedrick Motorsports driver Ricky Craven would finish second and third, respectively.
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 22, at 3:00 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. 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, March 23, at 11:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-38 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.
Ward Burton, driving for Bill Davis Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 28.295 and an average speed of 173.797mph.[4]
Three drivers would fail to qualify: Chuck Bown, Randy MacDonald, and Robbie Faggart.