|| *Comments on the 1997 Pontiac Excitement 400:* View the most recent comment <#28> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. MASH_guy posted: 08.15.2005 - 4:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty does his own version of the "Spin and Win". 2. Seth posted: 01.03.2006 - 12:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The last Richmond day race. 3. myself posted: 02.19.2007 - 4:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty's first win in the Miller Lite car. 4. RaceFanX posted: 01.03.2008 - 5:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Should he put his head out the window? Morgan Shepard had the hood break loose and block the windshield on his Pontiac for a lap during this event 5. GJinVA posted: 08.25.2008 - 3:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I remember Wallace, Bodine, and Jarrett coming across the line 3 wide to take the last caution flag with 6 laps to go. Irvan blew a tire and hit the turn three wall hard, you could hear the tire burst like a gunshot going off from way up in the backstretch grandstand. 6. schraderfan posted: 04.16.2009 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There have been several day races at Richmond after rain delays though since this race. 7. Taylor posted: 05.29.2009 - 7:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How does Terry Labonte get credited with the pole when hes 3rd in points coming in and theres no qualifying? 8. Spen posted: 06.04.2009 - 7:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For the same reason Jimmie Johnson got the pole at Fontana last year: in the first four (now five) races of the year, if qualifying is rained out, the field is set by the previous year's owner points. Terry won the championship in '96, therefore he was awarded the pole. 9. 18fan posted: 05.26.2010 - 1:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just watched this race on tape and the last 15 laps made up for the first 385 laps of boredom. Also, during the 370 lap green flag run I kept thinking, "If it was now, it would be a matter of time before the phantom caution comes out." 10. 18fan posted: 05.26.2010 - 1:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, Rudd crossed the line like 2 seconds ahead of Hamilton, so I don't know how Hamilton finished ahead of Rudd as Rudd came a car length short of passing Gordon for fourth. 11. Rotor77 posted: 04.29.2011 - 3:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) IIRC from Ernie's autobiography, Jeff Gordon swerved into him during the caution for the 81, slicing the tire. Also, IIRC, it wasn't long after that lap cars were put behind the leaders inside 10 laps to go. 12. jwdog posted: 06.25.2011 - 11:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the race where Rusty illegally passed Jarrett on the inside before the start/finish on the final restart. He should have been black flagged. 13. ericthenau posted: 12.14.2011 - 3:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was also the race where Chad Little was given a $10,000 fine by NASCAR for rough driving after the race. On the last lap of the race, Robby Gordon hit Little's #97 car, causing Little to spin out. Little then retaliated by rear-ending Gordon's #40 car after the race ended. There appears to be absolutely no coverage of this at all, and NASCAR fined Gordon $5,000 for his part in the incident. 14. 83andJoe posted: 06.24.2013 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #90 crew chief: Bob Johnson 15. 83andJoe posted: 08.02.2013 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #97 crew chief: Harold Holly (same for all 1997 races) 16. MAR posted: 10.27.2015 - 5:40 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) A 371 lap green flag run on a short track great driving by everyone and no ghost debris cautions nascar in it's prime. 17. Big Mac Fan posted: 10.27.2015 - 10:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is the this the longest green flag run, in terms of number of laps, or is there an even longer run? Also I never knew that Richmond used to be the 3rd race. 18. Schroeder51 posted: 10.27.2015 - 10:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^No. Believe it or not, one of the Bristol races went caution free in 1971 (as improbable as that sounds), and that race still holds the track record for the fastest race ever run there (a record that will probably last for eternity). There were also some Dover races (the spring race in 1981, for instance) that had 400+ lap green flag runs... 19. Josh posted: 07.26.2016 - 5:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) This is when they still had the "race back to the finish line for the caution" employed. Ernie Irvan (at the time the 4th and final lead lap car) blew a tire and had crashed between Turns 3 and 4, and his car slid perpendicular to the racing line as the 2, 7, and 88 all came barreling in. They all were racing hard and thankfully missed him, as did the rest of the field. Glad that they don't race back anymore, there were a lot of near misses due to that rule. 20. Josh posted: 07.26.2016 - 5:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Forgot to also mention that during the scramble back to the line for Irvan's caution, Jeff Gordon had unlapped himself, but he slowed down more to miss Irvan's car than the other three leaders did, and by the time they got back to the flag, he had been lapped again. In that case he would have been back on the lead lap for a 4-car shootout, but instead he was pinned to no better than 4th, a lap down. 21. CJ posted: 04.18.2018 - 11:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Only win of the season for Rusty Wallace. Season best finish for Geoff Bodine. First start for Gary Bradberry in the 19. 22. Greg9ChaseFan posted: 05.14.2018 - 1:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just rewatched this race the other day. Man, it was great back then. And to the guy who said Rusty illegally passed him, NOPE. DJ led at the line, that is all that matters. Rusty just got the better restart. Rusty was a great restarter. 23. Anonymous posted: 05.14.2018 - 8:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 22, you're right. I remember Geoff Bodine pissing and moaning after the race that he was the real winner. Jarrett had the car to beat, but messed it up at the end. Nascar was still awesome in 1997. 24. SweetRich posted: 02.16.2020 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Commentators For The Race Were Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons And Ned Jarrett. The Pit Road Reporters Were Jerry Punch, John Kernan And Bill Weber. 25. Joshua posted: 03.02.2020 - 8:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The final Richmond race run in late February/early March within the first three weeks of the season. Glad they moved it to later in the season, I can only imagine how freezing cold some of those races were in the mid-Atlantic at that time of year. 26. Foote posted: 04.07.2020 - 8:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bizarre incident in practice when Ricky Craven lost it coming out of the pits and destroyed his car and Johnny Benson's. It would start a string of 4 weekends in a row where Craven wrecked his Hendrick Chevy, and the 4th came at practice in Texas in a wreck that derailed his career. 27. Foote posted: 04.07.2020 - 8:52 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) That said, solid efforts by both drivers in their backup cars, especially Johnny Benson who finished 9th in the Chuck Rider car. 28. GregSacksIsYourGod posted: 07.28.2020 - 8:19 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) A pretty interesting race with a lot of comers and goers during the long green flag run, it looked to be a shootout between Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett with Jarrett slowly eating into Wallace's lead in the closing laps. That was, at least, until the caution on lap 381 meant we got a late race shootout between those 2 and Geoff Bodine, who had one of the best runs of his later career, picking up his first top 10 at Richmond in 5 years. I was sure Jarrett had the race won when he pipped Wallace to the line for the final caution, but a brilliant restart won Wallace the race. A little bit of a shame that Jeff Gordon wasn't able to get his lap back in the 4-wide race to the line on that final caution, his car was a rocketship at the end and could've been a spoiler for the top 3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: