1997 Interstate Batteries 500

Auto race held at Texas Motor Speedway in 1997 February 2025 NASWINSTON 1997 4 6 1997 6 32 TexasMotorSpeedway.svg 200px Simple line diagram of Texas Motor Speedway track layout Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas 1.5 2.4 334 501 806.281 Mild with temperatures of 71.6 F C; wind speeds of 14 mph km/hhttp://www.almanac.com/weather/history/TX/Fort%20Worth/1997-04-06 1997 Interstate Batteries 500 weather information The Old Farmers' Almanac 2013-07-10 https://archive.today/20240526184220/https://www.webcitation.org/6I4bK0rvK?url=http://m.almanac.com/weather/history/TX/Fort%20Worth/1997-04-06 2024-05-26 live Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Set by 1997 owner's points Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports 104 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing CBS Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett, Buddy Baker Interstate Batteries 500 Inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 Performance Racing Network The 1997 Interstate Batteries 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car race held on April 6, 1997, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The race was the inaugural Cup Series race at the track, and it was the first time Interstate Batteries served as a sponsor for NASCAR.http://corporate.interstatebatteries.com/press/historyandmilestones/ Interstate History & Milestones Interstate Batteries 2013-07-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20131116083318/http://corporate.interstatebatteries.com/press/historyandmilestones/ 2013-11-16 dead The race was the sixth of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. The pace car was the Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34 with a 3.8L engine, the first of its kind to serve as a pace car.http://www.theautochannel.com/news/press/date/19970326/press001593.html Chevrolet Monte Carlo Paces Texas Motor Speedway's First Race The Auto Channel 1997-03-27 2013-07-03 As qualifying was canceled due to rain,http://www.derrikecope.com/wcup/97/040697.htm Interstate Batteries 500 Derrike Cope 2013-07-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20110520151524/http://derrikecope.com/wcup/97/040697.htm 2011-05-20 dead the pole position was awarded to points leader Dale Jarrett of Yates Racing. Terry Labonte of Hendrick Motorsports led the most laps with 104, while Roush Racing's Jeff Burton scored his first Cup Series victory after leading 60 laps, including the final 58. Traffic delays As a result of the rain, besides qualifying being canceled, many of the track's parking lots were flooded. Track owner Bruton Smith received help from the Texas Department of Transportation, which closed down a portion of Texas State Highway 170 to use it as a parking lot. Although the parking lot issue was solved, traffic concerns arose, and on race day, by 8 AM, traffic on Interstate 35W stopped 16 miles south of the track. Due to the traffic, pianist Van Cliburn, who was scheduled to perform the national anthem at the race, had his helicopter delayed and could not perform.Aumann Mark http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2011/07/15/retro-racing-maumann-texas-1997-traffic.html Retro: Traffic issues date back to early days of NASCAR NASCAR 2011-07-15 2013-07-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20131203015741/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2011/07/15/retro-racing-maumann-texas-1997-traffic.html 2013-12-03 Race The race started with a 13-car crash on the first lap. The crash was the first in a wreck-laden race, with ten cautions and 73 laps under the yellow flag,http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/season-recaps/1990s/1997-nascar.htm 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Recap HowStuffWorks 2013-07-03 2013-05-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20130528155505/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/season-recaps/1990s/1997-nascar.htm dead the most in track history.Beaver Dan http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/blog/eye-on-nascar/20776724/nascar-picks-pack-texas NASCAR Picks Pack: Texas CBS Sports 2012-11-01 2013-07-03 Late in the race, Jeff Burton took the lead, and led the final 58 laps of the race to win his first career Cup race. Dale Jarrett finished second, followed by Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, and Ricky Rudd.http://racing-reference.info/race/1997_Interstate_Batteries_500/W 1997 Interstate Batteries 500 Racing-Reference 2013-07-03 Results thumb|Dale Jarrett led the points standings after the race. Pos Grid No. Car number Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Laps completed Laps led Laps as the lead driver Points Number of points earned towards championship standings Time/Status 1 5 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 334 60 180 4:00:16 2 1 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 334 42 175 +4.067 seconds 3 4 18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac 334 2 170 Lead lap under green flag 4 3 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 334 104 170 Lead lap under green flag 5 8 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 334 26 160 Lead lap under green flag 6 15 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 334 0 150 Lead lap under green flag 7 12 22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 334 0 146 Lead lap under green flag 8 22 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 334 2 147 Lead lap under green flag 9 21 21 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford 333 0 138 +1 lap 10 35 41 Steve Grissom Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 332 0 134 +2 laps 11 16 94 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott Racing Ford 332 0 130 +2 laps 12 30 98 John Andretti Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 332 0 127 +2 laps 13 31 81 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford 332 0 124 +2 laps 14 7 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 331 0 121 +3 laps 15 36 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 331 0 118 +3 laps 16 24 9 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 331 0 115 +3 laps 17 42 91 Mike Wallace LJ Racing Chevrolet 330 0 112 +4 laps 18 27 33 Ken Schrader Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet 330 0 109 +4 laps 19 26 11 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 327 0 106 +7 laps 20 17 43 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 325 0 103 +9 laps 21 43 78 Billy Standridge Triad Motorsports Ford 325 0 100 +9 laps 22 25 31 Mike Skinner Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 324 10 102 +10 laps 23 32 90 Dick Trickle Donlavey Racing Ford 319 0 94 +15 laps 24 19 1 Morgan Shepherd Precision Products Racing Pontiac 304 0 91 +30 laps 25 18 25 Todd Bodine Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 284 9 93 +50 laps 26 38 97 Chad Little Mark Rypien Motorsports Pontiac 283 0 85 +51 laps 27 23 44 Kyle Petty PE2 Motorsports Pontiac 266 0 82 +68 laps 28 13 30 Johnny Benson Jr. Bahari Racing Pontiac 256 0 79 Crash 29 40 42 Joe Nemechek Team SABCO Chevrolet 255 0 76 Crash 30 2 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 247 69 78 +87 laps 31 28 75 Rick Mast Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 246 0 70 Engine 32 20 37 Jeremy Mayfield Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 200 0 67 Handling 33 34 8 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 192 0 64 Clutch 34 29 40 Robby Gordon Team SABCO Chevrolet 174 0 61 +160 laps 35 11 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 167 0 58 Engine 36 10 28 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 161 0 55 Crash 37 9 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing Ford 160 0 52 Crash 38 6 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 143 10 54 Engine 39 33 23 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 95 0 46 Crash 40 39 20 Greg Sacks Ranier-Walsh Racing Ford 84 0 43 Crash 41 37 36 Derrike Cope MB2 Motorsports Pontiac 21 0 40 Crash 42 41 77 Bobby Hillin Jr. Jasper Motorsports Ford 17 0 37 Crash 43 14 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 0 0 34 Crash Lap leaders Laps Leader 1–13 Dale Jarrett 14–66 Jeff Gordon 67–69 Terry Labonte 70 Mark Martin 71–72 Bobby Labonte 73–82 Mike Skinner 83–98 Jeff Gordon 99–107 Terry Labonte 108–134 Dale Jarrett 135–143 Mark Martin 144–145 Dale Jarrett 146–154 Ricky Rudd 155–233 Terry Labonte 234–235 Jeff Burton 236 Todd Bodine 237–238 Sterling Marlin 239–251 Terry Labonte 252–268 Ricky Rudd 269–276 Todd Bodine 277–334 Jeff Burton Total laps led Laps led Driver 104 Terry Labonte 69 Jeff Gordon 60 Jeff Burton 42 Dale Jarrett 26 Ricky Rudd 10 Mike Skinner 10 Mark Martin 9 Todd Bodine 2 Bobby Labonte 2 Sterling Marlin Cautions: 10 for 73 laps Laps Reason 2–11 #1 (Shepherd), #3 (Earnhardt), #9 (Speed), #11 (B. Bodine), #17 (D. Waltrip), #25 (T. Bodine), #31 (Skinner), #44 (Petty) #30 (Benson), #40 (R. Gordon), #37 (Mayfield), #43 (Hamilton), & #75 (Mast) accident turn 1 19–25 #20 (Sacks), #36 (Cope), & #77 (Hillin) accident turn 1 98–105 #23 (Spencer) spin turn 1 144–149 #6 (Martin) engine 163–174 #2 (R. Wallace), #11 (B. Bodine), #20 (Sacks), #24 (J. Gordon), #28 (Irvan), #31 (Skinner), #90 (Trickle), #4 (Marlin), & #16 (Musgrave) accident frontstraight 177–179 #30 (Benson) spin turn 2 184–187 Oil on track 251–257 #41 (Grissom) spin turn 2 259–270 #30 (Benson), #42 (Nemechek), & #97 (Little) accident frontstraight 278–281 #25 (T. Bodine) & #9 (Speed) accident backstraight Media Television The Interstate Batteries 500 was covered by CBS for the first time in the United States. Ken Squier, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Ned Jarrett and nineteen-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner Buddy Baker called the race from the broadcast booth. Mike Joy, Dick Berggren and Ralph Sheheen handled pit road for the television side. CBS Booth announcers Pit reporters Lap-by-lap Color-commentators Ken Squier Ned Jarrett Buddy Baker Mike Joy Dick Berggren Ralph Sheheen Standings after the race Pos Driver Points Differential 1 10px Dale Jarrett994 0 2 Terry Labonte899 -95 3 Bobby Labonte858 -136 4 Jeff Burton837 -157 5 Jeff Gordon810 -184 6 Ricky Rudd775 -219 7 10px Geoff Bodine740 -254 8 Ward Burton709 -285 8 Mark Martin709 -285 10 Dale Earnhardt703 -291 References 1997 TranSouth Financial 400 1997 Food City 500 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Interstate Batteries 500 Interstate Batteries 500 Category:20th century in Fort Worth, Texas Category:NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway Category:April 1997 sports events in the United States