|| *Comments on the 1997 Gargoyles 300:* View the most recent comment <#33> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Thomas posted: 05.04.2006 - 3:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the last Daytona Busch race in which 45 cars were allowed to start, as was the custom for Daytona Busch races for years past. It was also the first Daytona Busch race televised live, by CBS. Usually, ESPN, or even Prime Sports delayed it until primetime, for some reason. Lots of hard wrecks in this race, including a 12 car pileup on the superstretch on lap 10. Surprisingly, Dale Jarrett was the only driver involved who didn't return to the race. 2. Dave posted: 03.05.2007 - 12:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lyndon Amicks Debut 3. Ebessan posted: 03.10.2008 - 11:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Failed to qualify: 11: Jimmy Foster 16: Mark Day 68: Chris Diamond 71: Dennis Setzer 77: Jeff McClure 85: Shane Hall 94: Ron Barfield 98: Kenny Irwin Jr. 4. Anonymous posted: 12.19.2009 - 11:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ 16 Mark Day 31-W Insulation Pontiac 185.219 11 Jimmy Foster Speedvsion/Otdr Lfe Ford 184.589 98 Kenny Irwin Jr. Wix Filters Ford 184.215 68 Chris Diamond J&L Motors Chevrolet 184.162 94 Ron Barfield New Holland Tractor Ford 180.650 77 Jeff McClure Lear Ford 180.350 71 Dennis Setzer South Coast Racing Ford 180.195 5. 18fan posted: 02.01.2010 - 1:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) When was the last time before this race that it wasn't sponsored by Goody's? 6. WillG_46 posted: 07.16.2010 - 3:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was called the Permatex 300 in the Sportsman Series days. 7. Chris posted: 11.01.2012 - 5:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why are the drivers bonus points for leading not added? 8. ericthenau posted: 11.10.2012 - 6:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR's Nationwide Series didn't begin to add points for drivers leading races until 1998, Chris... and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series didn't do the same thing until the year after that in 1999, also. 9. 44andJoe posted: 01.11.2013 - 7:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #35 sponsor: Dodge Reliance/Rockwell Automation #77 sponsor: Lear Corporation/UAW Positions of DNQ cars: 46th: #16 Day 47th: #11 Foster 48th: #98 Irwin Jr 49th: #68 Diamond 50th: #94 Barfield Jr 51st: #77 McClure 52nd: #71 Setzer 10. 83andJoe posted: 06.24.2013 - 11:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #29 crew chief: Sandy Jones (same for all 1997 races) 11. 83andJoe posted: 08.02.2013 - 9:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #34 crew chief: Gary Cogswell (same for all 1997 races) 12. 83andJoe posted: 10.08.2013 - 7:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #96 crew chief: John Birosh (same for all races this year) 13. CBASS posted: 01.04.2014 - 12:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #7 Spam #70 Titan Tire & Wheel 14. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 05.14.2016 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates: #74 Fina/Kool-Aid #96 Catepillar #70 Titan Tire & Wheel #7 Spam 15. Smiff_2 posted: 09.27.2016 - 9:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Now available on YouTube 16. Anonymous posted: 10.09.2016 - 7:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Are there any more recent races in any series with more then 43 starters? 17. RaceFanX posted: 10.04.2017 - 3:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The Cup series had a race with 44 cars at Sonoma later in the season, a side effect of being a combination race with the Winston/K&N West series. 18. JSPorts posted: 10.04.2017 - 4:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 45-car field, and still 7 drivers had to go home. It would be awesome to see this many drivers trying to get into races today, I think it certainly made qualifying more exciting. I remember back when I started watching I would come home from school and watch qualifying to see who made it in and who didn't. Now, I hardly watch qualifying, and if I do, I only watch round 1 of races where there are more than 40 entries. 19. RaceFanX posted: 11.09.2017 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Randy LaJoie and BACE Motorsports start their title defense 1997 season in style by winning the season opener, the #74 Fina Chevrolet's trip to victory lane made LaJoie only the second Busch series regular ever to win this event after Chad Little in 1995. BACE Motorsports expanded to two cars in 1997 with Tim Fedewa and his sponsor Kleenex moving over from Doug Taylor's team as part of the squad's new #33 Chevrolet, while Fedewa crashed out of the opener the changeover to two cars did little to slow BACE's pace at the front of the field. 20. RaceFanX posted: 01.08.2018 - 10:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Randy LaJoie and Todd Bodine, both Busch regulars this season, finish 1-2 at the season opener and at the end of the season that is exactly where they would be in the final point standings. 21. RaceFanX posted: 01.10.2018 - 8:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Reunited and it feels so good." This race marked the return of Todd Bodine to Cicci-Welliver Racing, reviving the combination for the first time since 1993 as Bodine took the wheel of the team's new #36 Stanley Tools Pontiac. The new-old combination hits it off immediately as Bodine finishes second, kicking off a successful season in which he would be a title contender. The Cicci-Welliver team transitioned from a single-car operation to a multi-car operation for 1997 with Bodine's #36 effort joining the #34 Royal Oak Charcoal entry of Mike McLaughlin. In a somewhat interesting strategy the team fielded two different makes of General Motors cars all season divided between the two teams; McLaughlin and the #34 team continued to field the Chevrolet Monte Carlo while Bodine and the #36 effort ran the Pontiac Grand Prix. This might be the most successful multi-brand effort from one team in NASCAR history; both drivers were in the top-5 in points with wins to their credit at season end. 22. jensenators posted: 07.09.2018 - 11:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) While watching a youtube video for 2nd round qualifying, a couple wacky things happened. Mark Day blew a water hose after his second lap and spun out. Ron Barfield had the Rear End fail after his 1st lap. David Green was in Mark Green's car until the car's turn in line, but Mark got back in and qualified the car. They were going to use David's past champion provisional to get in the field. Terry Labonte qualified the #5 car in first round qualifying 50th of 52 cars. Terry was not eligible for a provisional because he was a cup driver, so they had Andy Hillenburg qualify the car knowing they were high enough in points to be guaranteed a provisional. 23. Ultimate Warrior #18 posted: 07.26.2018 - 10:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very good race i love how they actually drafted and made calculated moves in the draft. Also loved that handling was a factor in Separating the good cars from the bad cars and it wasn't just one big old pack of cars running together and crashing all day. 24. Tide1732 posted: 01.04.2019 - 2:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) David Hutto almost injuried after his second wreck. 25. Jimnsimforever posted: 04.05.2019 - 2:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First career Busch Series pole for Elliott Sadler. 26. Anonymous posted: 03.18.2020 - 12:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe Mike Wallace was in the big wreck on Lap 42 as well. 27. Onion posted: 03.31.2020 - 8:36 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Sadler and McLaughlin were 2 MPH faster than anyone else and their times were fast enough to take the front row in the Daytona 500. Amazing how the Cup polesitter would have only qualified 3rd here. 28. JSPorts posted: 03.31.2020 - 9:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's interesting. What was different about the Busch Grand National Series rules that would've made those cars faster than even the Cup cars in '97? 29. James posted: 04.09.2020 - 12:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dont know if it counts as a WD or Driver change but... Terry Labonte was originally supposed to race his own car the # 5 But put Andy Hillenburg in the seat instead 30. James posted: 04.09.2020 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Replying to 27 & 28 Busch/Xfinity cars being faster than cup cars has happened before. In fact in 2008 they were faster than Cup cars all season. I think for superspeedway races the Busch cars had tapered spacers or something. It was definitely a different package than what the cup guys had 31. SweetRich posted: 07.14.2020 - 8:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Michael Waltrip's 3rd place finish would be his best result in his part-time season of select races. 32. Rich posted: 08.06.2020 - 12:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett and Darrell Waltrip. The pit road reporters were Mike Joy, Dr. Dick Berggren and Ralph Sheheen. 33. BlueOval posted: 02.17.2021 - 7:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the only time until Austin Cindric in 2021 that the defending series champion won the opening race of the next season. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: