The 1996 MBNA 500 was the 25th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 15, 1996, in Dover, Delaware at Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 17th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his eighth victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace and Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett would finish second and third, respectively.