|| *Comments on the 1996 Dura Lube 500:* View the most recent comment <#31> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. STP43 posted: 02.26.2005 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hamilton finally wins his first race. 2. HomeDepotKid posted: 04.01.2005 - 2:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not only did Hamilton win his first race, but it also brought the Pettys back to a home for them. VICTORY LANE. It was the first win for Petty Enterprises since 1983. 3. Darrell posted: 03.05.2006 - 11:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last race for Bobby Allison as a car owner. 4. Anonymous posted: 08.15.2006 - 4:49 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Didn't Terry Labonte finish 3rd with a broken hand or wrist? That is a true CHAMPION!!! 5. Anonymous posted: 08.15.2006 - 4:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) A friend of mine had a piece of Robby Gordon's car. Well what was left of it! 6. Darrell posted: 10.10.2006 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also first Cup start for Lance Hooper. 7. Sunoco posted: 01.10.2007 - 11:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RIP Bobby Hamilton. 8. Mike posted: 04.26.2007 - 4:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jack Sprague's first Cup start as well. 9. biffle16 posted: 05.14.2007 - 10:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last of two Cup starts for Jeff Krogh. 10. myself posted: 05.18.2007 - 1:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was wierd how Petty was so "ho-hum" in the immediate aftermath of this victory. 11. RaceFanX posted: 12.27.2007 - 1:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Terry Labonte was originally going to run his silver "Iron Man" paint job from earilier in the year, however his violent practice crash ended that idea. His backup car that ran had his regular paint job. After coming so close at Rockingham in the spring it was nice to see Bobby come through for the victory in this one 12. RaceFanX posted: 12.27.2007 - 1:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Kyle Petty's last race in #42 Pontiac for Felix Sabates (They DNQed the next week at Atlanta). Out of all Kyle's rides, he'll probably be best remembered for that one. 13. Anonymous posted: 04.18.2009 - 11:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Last race, as of 2009 (and probably forever) with more than 43 cars. 14. Rob posted: 06.04.2009 - 10:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually Sears Point 1997 had 44 cars. 15. Clayton posted: 11.10.2010 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) anyone have footage of this race? 16. RaceFanX posted: 01.04.2012 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Attendance: 104,000 17. 10andJoe posted: 03.20.2012 - 11:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill McAnally's name is misspelled in the DNQs. 18. RaceFanX posted: 06.26.2012 - 3:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nice qualifying run by Mike Skinner, he was still a Truck series regular racer at the time of this race. Warming up for his RotY run in 1997 Skinner was on the front row and went on to top-15 finish. Skinner actually almost had the pole for this race, Bobby Labonte was the third-to-last driver to make a qualifying attempt. Before this race TNN talked about how Brett Bodine had gone 200 races since his 1990 victory at North Wilkesboro but was 'all smiles' due to a new 3-year sponsorship deal he had just put together to replace the departing Lowe's. That deal was his new-for-1997 one with Close Call Phone Cards and it would turn into a nightmare as the company stopped paying halfway into the following season before the deal fell apart. 19. 83andJoe posted: 10.08.2013 - 7:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #40 crew chief: Brad Noffsinger 20. 23andJoe posted: 04.06.2014 - 10:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #52 owner: Rick Hendrick 21. 23andJoe posted: 04.06.2014 - 10:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #07 owner: Raymond Claridge 22. 23andJoe posted: 06.17.2014 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #00 owner: Geoff Burney 23. joebev910 posted: 04.27.2015 - 4:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Hamilton first nascar win and the first for Petty Enterprises in 13 years 24. Bramblegrunt posted: 03.31.2017 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Robby Gordon retired for the 5th time in a row in his career (with 4 different teams) dating back to his Talladega crash driving for Robert Yates. All 5 retirements for crashes in what was a very rough start of a career for him There really wasnt any dominant car to the event and everyone seemed to share their time leading this event. Dale Jarrett was one of them but a late pit road collision with Ken Schrader knocked him out of the battle for the lead. Bobby Hamilton took the lead in the closing stages from Geoffrey Bodine and seemed more relieved than elated to be in victory lane after so many races he had come close but couldnt quite close the deal leading up to this. But make no mistake about it, he was also happy. 25. HD11 posted: 05.02.2017 - 12:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I just finished watching this over the course of a week or so and was telling my wife about how Hamilton would ultimately succumb to cancer. Then that very same night I read that the next driver who would win for the King, John Andretti, is battling cancer as well. Sort of eerie timing to have watched this race. The King was running for Secretary of State in NC that coming Tuesday but didn't go to Victory Lane in that one. He stated afterward, "If I knew I wasn't going to win, I wouldnt have run!" 26. RaceFanX posted: 10.05.2017 - 8:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sponsor: #81 Kenny Wallace- Square D / Red Line Oil Wallace had some additional sponsorship on the quarter panel for this one but blew a motor and didn't get to do much with it. 27. Jimnsimforever posted: 04.02.2019 - 9:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was the final Winston Cup/Winston West combo race at Phoenix. They had always had a couple of combination races on the schedule but the following year they cut it down to just one. The road race at Sonoma would be the only Cup/West combo race in 1997. 28. Corey posted: 04.02.2019 - 10:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @27 I'm not sure about that. Supposedly, the 1997 Phoenix race was listed as Winston Cup/West combination race on the original entry form. No West cars turned up for that race though so it ended up being just the Cup guys running. 29. SweetRich21/43 posted: 08.03.2020 - 12:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators consisted of Eli Gold, Buddy Baker and Dr. Dick Berggren. The pit road reporters were Glenn Jarrett and Randy Pemberton. 30. RaceFanX posted: 10.08.2020 - 10:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hamilton's win here was the first of just two Cup wins at Phoenix for Pontiac as a brand. It was also the only Cup win for any Pontiac driver in 1996. Pontiac had some rough years in the mid-1990s. After Penske switched to Ford for 1994 they lost their big gun with a fading SABCO and the rising Petty Enterprises and Bill Davis teams as their main contenders although Bahari could have the occasionally good run. SABCO would defect to Chevrolet for 1997 but with Joe Gibbs' team having already announced a move to Pontiac for the coming season better times were coming for the Arrowhead emblem. 31. Anonymous posted: 03.02.2021 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Only laps lead in the cup series by Jack Sprague. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: