Heading into the final race of the season, the 1995 NAPA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon was the heavy favorite to win the championship, only needing a finish of 41st or better to clinch his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship.

[3] Phoenix International Raceway – also known as PIR – is a one-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona.

The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually.

The raceway was originally constructed with a 2.5 mi (4.0 km) road course that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval.

Bill Elliott, driving for Elliott-Hardy Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 27.688 and an average speed of 130.020 miles per hour (209.247 km/h) in the first round.