April 16, 2018 – Kyle Busch scored his second consecutive win of the season when he took the checkered flag in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was also his second straight win at Bristol and his seventh of eighth overall in the NASCAR Cup Series at the .533-mile track. Busch nudged by Kyle Larson with six laps to go and was able to drive to his 45th (of 56) career victory. Rain suspended the race to Monday afternoon.
April 16, 2016 – Erik Jones held off Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Jones won his third career series race and in the process the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus. Busch and Larson, who had waged a torrid battle for the top spot, were forced to settle for second and third, respectively. The day featured a new Dash 4 Cash format for that season with a pair of 50-lap heats preceding the 200-lap main event. Jones won the first heat while Austin Dillon took the second.
April 16, 2011 – Kyle Busch survived damage from an earlier race accident to win his first Talladega Superspeedway NASCAR Xfinity (Busch) Series race in the Aaron’s 312. The win, his fourth of the season and 47th (of 96) of his career, gave Busch wins in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions at the 2.66-mile Alabama track. With a push from his teammate Joey Logano, Busch was declared the winner on the race’s second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish as he was in the top spot on Lap 124 when Mike Wallace flipped on the backstretch after getting hit from behind by Elliott Sadler. That brought out the caution and officially ended the race.
April 16, 2005 – Kasey Kahne held off Greg Biffle and Reed Sorenson on a late-race restart and went on to win the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. The win was Kahne’s second (of 8) in the Xfinity (Busch) Series adding to his initial at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November of 2003.
April 16, 2000 – Jeff Gordon grabbed the lead from Mark Martin with five laps to go and then held off Mike Skinner to win the DieHard 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The win was the 50th (of 93) of Gordon’s career and first since being paired with crew chief Robbie Loomis. Martin, who led 99 laps, slipped back to a sixth-place finish.
April 16, 1989 – Dale Earnhardt won the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway after leading 296 of the 400 laps. Earnhardt led the final 43 laps and held of Alan Kulwicki, who had brake issues. Goodyear introduced radial racing tires in the event.
April 16, 1978 – Darrell Waltrip won the Gwyn Staley 400 for his second consecutive victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Waltrip led 146 laps, including the final 69. The race ended under caution for a spin by D.K. Ulrich. Richard Petty, who led 129 laps, finished second with Benny Parsons (led 120 laps) in third, one lap down.
Other winners on this date: 1972 – David Pearson (Darlington); 1967 – Darel Dieringer (North Wilkesboro Speedway); 1964 – Ned Jarrett (Columbia Speedway); 1961 – Rex White (North Wilkesboro Speedway); Curtis Turner (Langhorne Speedway)
