16th race of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Motor car race
The 1997 Pepsi 400 was the 16th
stock car race of the
1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 29th iteration of the
event . The race was held on Saturday, July 5, 1997, in
Daytona Beach, Florida at
Daytona International Speedway , a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 160 laps to complete. In a one-lap restart to the finish,
Cale Yarborough Motorsports driver
John Andretti would manage to defend the field in a close finish to take his first career
NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.
[1]
[2] To fill out the top three,
Hendrick Motorsports driver
Terry Labonte and
Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver
Sterling Marlin would finish second and third, respectively.
Background
The layout of
Daytona International Speedway , the venue where the race was held.
Daytona International Speedway is one of three
superspeedways to hold
NASCAR races, the other two being
Indianapolis Motor Speedway and
Talladega Superspeedway .
[3] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 31
degrees , while the
front stretch , the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.
[4]
Entry list
(R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, July 3, at 3:00 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 Friday, July 4. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. Positions 26-38 would be decided on time, and depending on who needed it, the 39th thru either the 42nd, 43rd, or 44th position would be based on provisionals. Four spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The fifth is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the field would be limited to 42 cars. If a champion needed it, the field would expand to 43 cars. If the race was a companion race with the
NASCAR Winston West Series , four spots would be determined by NASCAR Winston Cup Series provisionals, while the final two spots would be given to teams in the Winston West Series, leaving the field at 44 cars.
Mike Skinner , driving for
Richard Childress Racing , would win the pole, setting a time of 47.424 and an average speed of 189.777 miles per hour (305.416 km/h).
[5]
Three drivers would fail to qualify:
Loy Allen Jr. ,
Geoff Bodine , and
Jeff Green .
Full qualifying results
Race results
Fin
[6]
St
#
Driver
Team
Make
Laps
Led
Status
Pts
Winnings
1
3
98
John Andretti
Cale Yarborough Motorsports
Ford
160
113
running
185
$109,525
2
35
5
Terry Labonte
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet
160
0
running
170
$74,975
3
30
4
Sterling Marlin
Morgan–McClure Motorsports
Chevrolet
160
0
running
165
$53,775
4
2
3
Dale Earnhardt
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet
160
7
running
165
$52,475
5
16
88
Dale Jarrett
Robert Yates Racing
Ford
160
0
running
155
$45,975
6
6
2
Rusty Wallace
Penske Racing South
Ford
160
0
running
150
$40,850
7
38
44
Kyle Petty
Petty Enterprises
Pontiac
160
2
running
151
$30,550
8
23
99
Jeff Burton
Roush Racing
Ford
160
0
running
142
$36,500
9
24
28
Ernie Irvan
Robert Yates Racing
Ford
160
0
running
138
$35,500
10
20
18
Bobby Labonte
Joe Gibbs Racing
Pontiac
160
0
running
134
$40,000
11
27
81
Kenny Wallace
FILMAR Racing
Ford
160
0
running
130
$30,565
12
22
16
Ted Musgrave
Roush Racing
Ford
160
0
running
127
$29,975
13
31
37
Jeremy Mayfield
Kranefuss-Haas Racing
Ford
160
0
running
124
$22,585
14
34
17
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip Motorsports
Chevrolet
160
1
running
126
$29,245
15
14
33
Ken Schrader
Andy Petree Racing
Chevrolet
160
0
running
118
$30,455
16
15
30
Johnny Benson Jr.
Bahari Racing
Pontiac
160
0
running
115
$28,615
17
37
71
Dave Marcis
Marcis Auto Racing
Chevrolet
160
0
running
112
$23,175
18
9
75
Rick Mast
Butch Mock Motorsports
Ford
160
0
running
109
$27,860
19
36
96
David Green (R)
American Equipment Racing
Chevrolet
160
0
running
106
$17,920
20
25
43
Bobby Hamilton
Petty Enterprises
Pontiac
160
0
running
103
$32,655
21
4
24
Jeff Gordon
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet
160
1
running
105
$85,135
22
26
40
Robby Gordon
Team SABCO
Chevrolet
160
0
running
97
$26,915
23
40
11
Brett Bodine
Brett Bodine Racing
Ford
160
1
running
99
$26,545
24
11
42
Joe Nemechek
Team SABCO
Chevrolet
160
0
running
91
$19,325
25
12
90
Dick Trickle
Donlavey Racing
Ford
159
0
crash
88
$19,080
26
21
22
Ward Burton
Bill Davis Racing
Pontiac
159
4
crash
90
$25,820
27
18
6
Mark Martin
Roush Racing
Ford
159
26
crash
87
$30,465
28
28
36
Derrike Cope
MB2 Motorsports
Pontiac
159
0
crash
79
$18,445
29
10
9
Lake Speed
Melling Racing
Ford
159
0
crash
76
$18,225
30
41
1
Jerry Nadeau
Precision Products Racing
Pontiac
159
0
crash
73
$25,130
31
5
23
Jimmy Spencer
Travis Carter Enterprises
Ford
159
0
running
70
$24,575
32
32
77
Morgan Shepherd
Jasper Motorsports
Ford
159
0
running
67
$15,045
33
17
94
Bill Elliott
Bill Elliott Racing
Ford
158
2
running
69
$22,015
34
13
10
Ricky Rudd
Rudd Performance Motorsports
Ford
155
0
crash
61
$29,985
35
8
21
Michael Waltrip
Wood Brothers Racing
Ford
155
1
crash
63
$21,955
36
19
8
Hut Stricklin
Stavola Brothers Racing
Ford
155
0
crash
55
$21,925
37
39
25
Ricky Craven
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet
155
0
running
52
$21,896
38
42
41
Steve Grissom
Larry Hedrick Motorsports
Chevrolet
153
0
running
49
$21,850
39
33
46
Wally Dallenbach Jr.
Team SABCO
Chevrolet
149
0
running
46
$14,850
40
7
78
Billy Standridge
Triad Motorsports
Ford
39
0
crash
43
$14,850
41
1
31
Mike Skinner (R)
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet
37
2
crash
45
$21,850
42
29
97
Chad Little
Mark Rypien Motorsports
Pontiac
32
0
crash
37
$15,350
Failed to qualify
43
91
Loy Allen Jr.
LJ Racing
Chevrolet
44
7
Geoff Bodine
Geoff Bodine Racing
Ford
45
29
Jeff Green (R)
Diamond Ridge Motorsports
Chevrolet
Official race results
References
^ Green Jr., Ron (July 5, 1997).
"Andretti flexes muscle" . That's Racin' .
The Charlotte Observer . Archived from
the original on August 15, 2000. Retrieved September 29, 2022 .
^ Kerasotis, Peter (July 6, 1997).
"Andretti rules Daytona" . Florida Today . p. 27. Retrieved September 29, 2022 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"NASCAR.COM : Tracks" . 2010-08-11. Archived from
the original on 2010-08-11. Retrieved 2021-10-17 .
^
"Daytona International Speedway: The World Center of Racing" . 2010-08-30. Archived from
the original on 2010-08-30. Retrieved 2021-10-17 .
^ Ferguson, Doug (July 4, 1997).
"Skinner wins pole in Daytona" . The Beaufort Gazette . p. 16. Retrieved September 29, 2022 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"1997 Pepsi 400 - The Third Turn" . The Third Turn . Retrieved September 28, 2022 .
Points races Exhibition races