1998 MBNA Gold 400

The 1998 MBNA Gold 400 was the 26th stock car race of the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 30th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 20, 1998, in Dover, Delaware at Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would dominate the race weekend to take his 28th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his sixth victory of the season. To fill out the podium, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon and Penske-Kranefuss Racing driver Jeremy Mayfield would finish second and third, respectively.

The race would mark the first career NASCAR Winston Cup Series start for Matt Kenseth, who was substituting for Bill Elliott as Elliott had gone to his father's funeral.

Background
Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

Entry list

 * (R) denotes rookie driver.

First practice
The first practice session was held on Friday, September 19, at 10:15 AM EST. The session would last for one hour and 15 minutes. Ricky Rudd, driving for Rudd Performance Motorsports, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 23.056 and an average speed of 156.142 mph.

Second practice
The second practice session was held on Friday, September 19, at 12:45 PM EST. The session would last for one hour and 15 minutes. Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 23.008 and an average speed of 156.467 mph.

Final practice
The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held Saturday, September 19 after the preliminary 1998 MBNA Gold 200. The session would last for one hour. Rusty Wallace, driving for Penske-Kranefuss Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 23.781 and an average speed of 151.381 mph.

Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 18, at 3:30 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, September 19, at 11:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. On January 24, 1998, NASCAR would announce that the amount of provisionals given would be increased from last season. Positions 26-36 would be decided on time, while positions 37-43 would be based on provisionals. Six spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points will be awarded a provisional.

Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 23.082 and an average speed of 155.966 mph.

Three drivers would fail to qualify: Morgan Shepherd, Steve Grissom, and Dave Marcis.