1997 Winston 500

Auto race held at Talladega Superspeedway in 1997 February 2025 CUST Race 10 of 32 in the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season Winston 500 Weather information for the 1997 Winston 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac 1997 05 10 1997 10 32 1997_Winston_500.jpeg The 1997 Winston 500 program cover, featuring Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, and Jeff Gordon. Temperatures of 71.6 F C; wind speeds of 6.3 mph km/h Winston 500 Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Alabama 2.660 4.280 188 500.1 804.8 188.354 mi/h John Andretti Cale Yarborough Motorsports Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing 76 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing ESPN Bob Jenkins Benny Parsons Ned Jarrett The 1997 Winston 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on May 10, 1997, at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Heavy rain and prior NASCAR commitments forced this race to be rescheduled from April 27, 1997.Original date of the 1997 Winston 500 https://web.archive.org/web/20150402092812/http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/race.php?sked_id=1997010 2015-04-02 at Driver Averages This race would be last time that the number 20 would be used on a Winston Cup Series vehicle until Tony Stewart came along and revived the number as a part of Joe Gibbs Racing. Stewart was asked to drive the vehicle just prior to qualifying but had to turn it down due to prior commitments. Background thumb|The layout of Talladega Superspeedway, the venue where the race was held. Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a Tri-oval and was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in the 1960s. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line - located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega Superspeedway is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66 mi km, and the track at its peak had a seating capacity of 175,000 spectators.http://www.talladegasuperspeedway.com/This-Is-Talladega/Track-Facts.aspx Track Facts Talladega Superspeedway November 1, 2012 talladegasuperspeedway.com April 27, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20121101080016/http://www.talladegasuperspeedway.com/This-Is-Talladega/Track-Facts.aspx November 1, 2012 Race report There were 43 American-born drivers in this race. Those who failed to qualify were: Billy Standridge, Mike Wallace, Gary Bradberry, Joe Nemechek, Phil Barkdoll (in his final NASCAR attempt), and Ed Berrier.1997 Winston 500 racing information at Racing Reference Geoffrey Bodine finished last due to an engine problem on lap 78 of 188 laps. Mark Martin defeated Dale Earnhardt by 0.150 seconds; ending the caution-free race. This was Martin's second consecutive victory. The aero package allowed for 26 changes in first-place during the race. Bobby Hillin had his best finish of the 1997 season by finishing 20th after qualifying in second place. This race would be the final start for Greg Sacks in the 20 and Robert Pressley in the 29. John Andretti, driving Cale Yarborough's car, would finish in the top five. This race was actually rain-delayed from its original date, was attempted on Monday, then set back to the Saturday before Mother's Day. Joe Nemechek ran the #40 car in this race because Robby Gordon had activities for the Indy 500 that were conflicting with the Winston 500. It took more than two and a half hours for Martin to record his average speed of 188.354 mph km/h; one of the fastest average speeds recorded. Despite being twice the distance this race was only 32 minutes longer than the 2017 I Love New York 355 at The Glen.Mark Martin's NASCAR Winston Cup Series record https://web.archive.org/web/20131002142751/http://www.jayski.com/next/2002/2002talladega1.htm October 2, 2013 at Jayski John Andretti earned the pole position of the race with a speed of 193.627 mph km/h. This race brought to a close the existence of Harry Ranier's race team. This race was a restrictor plate race per NASCAR's policy on racing at Talladega and its sister track at Daytona Beach, Florida during that time. Lake Speed's ACE Hardware sponsorship in this race was fabricated so that he would resemble the villain in Fox's made-for-TV movie Steel Chariots. Mark Martin's race speed record still stands due to this race going caution free; it is unlikely the record will be broken anytime soon since NASCAR has added mandatory stage break cautions to all races (which has since been removed at road courses, but those tracks do not approach the average speeds of superspeedways). After this race, Labonte would take the championship points away from Dale Jarrett.1997 Winston 500 racing information at Race Database The total prize purse for this race was $1,317,496 ($ when considering inflation); Martin would earn $92,220 ($ when considering inflation).Prize winnings at the 1997 Winston 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Qualifying Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer 1 98 John Andretti Ford 2 77 Bobby Hillin Jr. Ford 3 3 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet 4 2 Rusty Wallace Ford 5 31 Mike Skinner Chevrolet 6 33 Ken Schrader Chevrolet 7 28 Ernie Irvan Ford 8 18 Bobby Labonte Pontiac 9 88 Dale Jarrett Ford 10 94 Bill Elliott Ford 11 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 12 36 Derrike Cope Pontiac 13 20 Greg Sacks Ford 14 9 Lake Speed Ford 15 75 Rick Mast Ford 16 4 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 17 30 Johnny Benson Jr. Pontiac 18 6 Mark Martin Ford 19 7 Geoffrey Bodine Ford 20 23 Jimmy Spencer Ford Results +PosGridNo. Car numberDriverTeamManufacturerLaps Laps led StatusPoints 1 18 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 188 47 Running 180 2 3 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 188 76 Running 180 3 8 18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac 188 0 Running 165 4 1 98 John Andretti Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 188 19 Running 165 5 11 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 188 13 Running 160 6 36 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 188 0 Running 150 7 20 23 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 188 0 Running 146 8 39 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 188 13 Running 147 9 17 30 Johnny Benson Jr. Bahari Racing Pontiac 188 0 Running 138 10 7 28 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 188 2 Running 139 11 29 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 188 0 Running 130 12 6 33 Ken Schrader Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet 188 1 Running 132 13 12 36 Derrike Cope MB2 Motorsports Pontiac 188 0 Running 124 14 28 21 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford 188 1 Running 126 15 26 90 Dick Trickle Donlavey Racing Ford 188 0 Running 118 16 5 31 Mike Skinner Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 187 2 Running 120 17 27 46 Wally Dallenbach Jr. Team SABCO Chevrolet 187 0 Running 112 18 10 94 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott Racing Ford 187 0 Running 109 19 32 40 Joe Nemechek Team SABCO Chevrolet 187 0 Running 106 20 2 77 Bobby Hillin Jr. Jasper Motorsports Ford 187 0 Running 103 21 14 9 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 187 0 Running 100 22 15 75 Rick Mast Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 187 0 Running 97 23 40 37 Jeremy Mayfield Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 187 0 Running 94 24 38 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 187 1 Running 96 25 13 20 Greg Sacks Rainer-Walsh Racing Ford 187 0 Running 88 26 30 81 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford 187 0 Running 85 27 33 25 Ricky Craven Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 186 0 Running 82 28 41 1 Morgan Shepherd Precision Products Racing Pontiac 186 0 Running 79 29 22 29 Robert Pressley Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 186 0 Running 76 30 37 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 186 0 Running 73 31 35 43 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 186 0 Running 70 32 43 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 186 0 Running 67 33 31 11 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 186 0 Running 64 34 42 97 Chad Little Mark Rypien Motorsports Pontiac 185 0 Running 61 35 9 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 184 0 Running 58 36 23 8 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 183 0 Running 55 37 4 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing Ford 180 1 Engine 57 38 34 96 David Green American Equipment Racing Chevrolet 169 0 Engine 49 39 16 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 113 10 Engine 51 40 21 44 Kyle Petty PE2 Motorsports Pontiac 109 0 Running 43 41 24 41 Steve Grissom Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 93 0 Engine 40 42 25 22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 85 0 Engine 37 43 19 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 78 2 Engine 39 Source: Lap leaders Laps Leader 1–18 John Andretti 19–26 Dale Earnhardt 27 Mark Martin 28–30 Jeff Gordon 31–38 Dale Earnhardt 39 John Andretti 40 Dale Earnhardt 41 Jeff Gordon 42–49 Sterling Marlin 50–51 Mike Skinner 52 Ted Musgrave 53–54 Geoff Bodine 55–89 Dale Earnhardt 90 Rusty Wallace 91–104 Dale Earnhardt 105 Michael Waltrip 106–107 Sterling Marlin 108–117 Jeff Burton 118 Ken Schrader 119–126 Jeff Gordon 127–128 Dale Earnhardt 129–131 Jeff Burton 132–139 Dale Earnhardt 140–154 Mark Martin 155–156 Ernie Irvan 157 Jeff Gordon 158–188 Mark Martin Total laps led Laps led Driver 76 Dale Earnhardt 47 Mark Martin 19 John Andretti 13 Jeff Gordon 13 Jeff Burton 10 Sterling Marlin 2 Ernie Irvan 2 Mike Skinner 2 Geoff Bodine 1 Ken Schrader 1 Michael Waltrip 1 Ted Musgrave 1 Rusty Wallace Standings after the race Pos Driver Points 1 Terry Labonte 1544 2 Jeff Gordon 1505 3 Dale Jarrett 1492 4 10px Mark Martin 1394 5 10px Bobby Labonte 1329 6 Dale Earnhardt 1287 7 Jeff Burton 1277 8 Ricky Rudd 1172 9 Michael Waltrip 1126 10 Bobby Hamilton 1121 References 1997 Save Mart Supermarkets 300 1997 Coca-Cola 600 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Winston 500 Winston 500 Category:NASCAR races at Talladega Superspeedway Category:April 1997 sports events in the United States