The 1976 Purolator 500 was a Winston Cup (now Nextel Cup) event held at Pocono Raceway on August 1, 1976. It was the 18th race on the 1976 season and third year NASCAR raced at Pocono. NASCAR before the race had made a rule change; they had limited teams to small carburators starting in mid-March but for Pocono they allowed teams to go back to larger carburators. David Pearson was the heavy favorite in the race, having won seven races entering August; he qualified second alongside Cale Yarborough.