The 1996 Goody's Headache Powder 500 was the eighth stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 48th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 21, 1996, in Martinsville, Virginia at Martinsville Speedway, a 0.526 miles (0.847 km) permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would manage to make a late-race pass on Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon to take his 42nd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Robert Yates Racing driver Ernie Irvan and the aforementioned Jeff Gordon would finish second and third, respectively.