News, notes and numbers from the world of NASCAR Starting Line Front Page Final 1996 Standings A Decade of Stats Fast Moves Racing Web

Consistency isn't everything—it's the only thing. Of the top six 1996 Winston Cup points leaders, only Jeff Gordon won more than four of the series' 31 races. Though Gordon dominated each statistical category (leading the circuit in victories, earnings and laps led, and tying for the lead in top-five and top-10 finishes), he twice finished 40th or below. The lesson: It's important to finish near the front, but it's more important to always finish far from the rear. Champion Terry Labonte won just two races all season but came in fifth or better 21 times. Labonte was knocked out of three of the 31 races he started. Seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt's black number 3 completed 9,530 of a possible 9,648 laps and traveled 11,524 of the 11,748 miles raced. (See page 6 for an explanation of the Winston Cup point system.) Place Driver Points Starts Wins Top-Five Finishes Top-10 Finishes Laps Led Money Won 1 Terry Labonte 4,657 31 2 21 24 973 $1,939,213 2 Jeff Gordon 4,620 31 10 21 24 2,314 $2,484,518 3 Dale Jarrett 4,568 31 4 17 21 755 $2,343,750 4 Dale Earnhardt 4,327 31 2 13 17 614 $1,725,396 5 Mark Martin 4,278 31 0 14 23 702 $1,550,555 6 Ricky Rudd 3,845 31 1 5 16 151 $1,213,373 7 Rusty Wallace 3,717 31 5 8 18 964 $1,296,912 8 Sterling Marlin 3,682 31 2 5 10 331 $1,315,050 9 Bobby Hamilton 3,639 31 1 3 11 648 $954,625 10 Ernie Irvan 3,632 31 2 12 16 370 $1,480,167 11 Bobby Labonte 3,590 31 1 5 14 337 $1,362,415 12 Ken Schrader 3,540 31 0 3 10 45 $979,287 13 Jeff Burton 3,538 30 0 6 12 210 $729,852 14 Michael Waltrip 3,535 31 0 1 11 18 $1,063,825 15 Jimmy Spencer 3,476 31 0 2 9 156 $937,255 16 Ted Musgrave 3,466 31 0 2 7 5 $868,555 17 Geoff Bodine 3,218 31 1 2 6 90 $937,970 18 Rick Mast 3,190 31 0 1 5 1 $835,532 19 Morgan Shepherd 3,133 31 0 1 5 50 $638,597 20 Ricky Craven 3,078 31 0 3 5 136 $865,362 21 Johnny Benson 3,004 30 0 1 6 105 $893,580 22 Hut Stricklin 2,854 31 0 1 1 163 $601,555 23 Lake Speed 2,834 31 0 0 2 10 $789,175 24 Brett Bodine 2,814 30 0 0 1 3 $741,716 25 Wally Dallenbach Jr. 2,786 30 0 1 3 0 $794,501 26 Jeremy Mayfield 2,721 30 0 2 2 20 $592,853 27 Kyle Petty 2,696 28 0 0 2 72 $689,041 28 Kenny Wallace 2,694 30 0 0 2 7 $457,665 29 Darrell Waltrip 2,657 31 0 0 2 2 $740,185 30 Bill Elliott 2,627 24 0 0 6 108 $706,506 31 John Andretti 2,621 30 0 2 3 32 $688,511 32 Robert Pressley 2,485 30 0 2 3 110 $690,465 33 Ward Burton 2,411 27 0 0 4 54 $873,619 34 Joe Nemechek 2,391 29 0 0 2 2 $666,247 35 Derrike Cope 2,374 29 0 0 3 28 $675,781 36 Dick Trickle 2,131 26 0 0 1 2 $404,927 37 Bobby Hillin Jr. 2,128 26 0 0 0 4 $382,724 38 Dave Marcis 2,047 27 0 0 0 20 $435,177 39 Steve Grissom 1,188 13 0 1 2 12 $314,983 40 Todd Bodine 991 10 0 0 1 1 $198,525