|| *Comments on the 1997 NAPA 500:* View the most recent comment <#57> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. tquievryn posted: 01.02.2005 - 6:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Labonte dominated the 1997 NAPA 500 for the 2nd straight year in route to his first win of 1997. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon wrecked his car in qualifying. Needing a 19th or better to win the championship, Gordon drove through the field early then hung around mid-pack for the remaining laps in route to a 17th place finish and the 1997 championship by 14 points. Notable: Jeff Green grabbed at that time his best career finish with a 4th. Buckshot Jones made his debut, but wrecked early with Brett Bodine. He would dead last in the race and in the final 1997 standings. 2. Brett posted: 02.25.2005 - 11:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) All of that, in addition to being the first Cup event at the reconfigured Atlanta, with an astronomically quick pole lap by Geoff Bodine. 3. JeffGordonMAN posted: 12.04.2005 - 3:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) How come the pole lap record never was never broken? 4. dalejr8 posted: 12.09.2005 - 12:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Because cars go alot faster on fresh pavement than on worn out pavement. 5. NascarF1Fan posted: 12.30.2005 - 6:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Record were still broken with worn out pavement. 6. Darrell posted: 03.12.2006 - 4:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Buckshot Jones' Cup debut. 7. MOST posted: 05.07.2006 - 3:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) They almost used a restrictor plate that day... 8. Steve posted: 07.12.2006 - 6:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Geoffrey Bodine's team may have given his car a really loose setup so he could stand on the throttle all the way around the track, and perhaps he was able to hang on to it and set the track record. Kenny Schrader beat Johnny Benson for 10th in the Winston Cup points by ONE POINT!!! 9. Anonymous posted: 09.21.2006 - 8:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There were rule changes on later races at Atlanta to prevent such high speeds; Different tires and car specifications. 10. Frogger49 posted: 10.05.2006 - 1:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the only race run at Atlanta before the "5 and 5" rule of 1998 was enacted. 5 inch tall rear spoiler and 5 inch tall front air dam. As a result, the spring race pole was 5 mph slower (in the 192 mph bracket). 11. myself posted: 02.19.2007 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) John Andretti's last race for Cale.....the only driver to ever win for Cale. If sponsorship would've remained, they'd have stayed together....& probably won more races. This is also the last race in which all Fords were Thunderbirds. 12. biffle16 posted: 03.31.2007 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After this race, when Ernie Irvan moved to the #36 car, he never again finished in the top-5 in a Cup Series event. 13. Anonymous posted: 05.09.2007 - 12:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last top-5 and top-10 finish for Derrike Cope. 14. myself posted: 05.18.2007 - 3:28 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) .....or as Ned Jarrett called him in the 93' 500: "Dope Cope." 15. Anonymous posted: 06.22.2007 - 9:43 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Buckshot Jones' last place finish in his debut: Proof of his awe-inspiring, incredible future, on his way to becoming legendary. 16. Anonymous posted: 11.02.2007 - 3:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dope Cope? 17. BurtonRuddFan posted: 01.22.2008 - 1:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow! Geoff's qualifying run sounds too good to be true. By the way, Bobby Labonte showed that he could dominate Atlanta's current configuration. This is probably one of the few times with 5 Pontiacs in the top 10. Besides Joe Gibbs Racing, Pontiac really started to go downhill after this, which is evident in Chuck Rider's team, and Petty Enterprises, especially the 44. 18. RaceFanX posted: 02.14.2008 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last start for David Blair as a car owner 19. Haywood posted: 03.30.2008 - 3:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) If the 2007 Chase format was used... Jarrett 6,637 J. Gordon 6,533 Martin 6,441 Earnhardt 6,351 B. Labonte 6,341 J. Burton 6,326 Elliott 6,245 T. Labonte 6,147 Benson 6,106 Mayfield 6,037 Musgrave 5,959 Rudd 5,812 20. adamal82 posted: 08.25.2008 - 1:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Greg Sacks DNQ's with the team that sat on the pole in the Spring Event. (I know this was the first race with the current configuration.)But it shows how much in shambles the #40 car was during the 1997 season. 21. adamal82 posted: 08.29.2008 - 9:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) With Jeff Green's 4th place finish, it was Diamond Ridge Motorsports best finish in the Winston Cup Series 22. Kit posted: 01.25.2009 - 3:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Ironic how Irvin never finished in the top five with the car that Cope finished in the top five here. 23. myself posted: 08.17.2009 - 2:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Gordon wins his first gold Winston Cup trophy. 24. SoxFan24 posted: 10.24.2009 - 11:59 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) For the second straight year Bobby Labonte gets his only win of the season in the last race of the season. Jeff Green and Derrike Cope have great runs as well Milestones First win for Joe Gibbs Racing in a Pontiac. First top 5 for Jeff Green and also last top 5 or top 10 for Diamond Ridge Racing First top 5 for MB2 Motorsports in Derrike Copes last race for that team and last Cup series top 10 Last race for Pennzoil as primary sponsor for the 30 team and last race for Johnny Benson driving for that team Last race for Sterling Marlin driving the Kodiak Film car as he would move on to drive for Felix Sabates in 1998. Marlin drove for them from 1994-1997 and won 2 Daytona 500's Last race for Ernie Irvan driving for Yates Racing. Ernie nearly won the championship in 1994 before suffering season ending injuries Last race for Jeremy Mayfield in the K-mart/ RC Cola car as that sponsorship would go away and the team would be sold to Roger Penske. Mayfield would return as driver Last race for John Andretti driving for Cale Yarborough. Andretti got his first win for that team First race for the Winston/ No Bull sponsorship on the 23 car for Jimmy Spencer Last race for QVC as a primary sponsor in the Cup series Last race for the number 25 being in a cup race untill 1999. They changed the number to 50 in support of the 50th anniversary of Nascar Last race for Parts America as a primary sponsor in NASCAR. That sponsorship started in 1991 when the company was known as Western Auto and continued untill 1997 First race for Buckshot Jones First race for the new configuration of Atlanta Motor Speedway 25. 18fan posted: 02.19.2010 - 12:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last race that the model car that, in my opinion, had the coolest looking grille front, the 1996-1997 Thunderbird. Although they ran well, they were nothing compared to how well the Taurus ran in the first half of 1998, absolutely dominating everything, as Jeff Gordon and, to a lesser extent, Bobby Labonte were the only GM cars who could compete with the Fords. 26. Andre posted: 09.21.2010 - 11:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Man, I remember this as being quite a hectic weekend. A comment above said Jeff Gordon wrecked in qualifying; untrue... he wrecked ON PIT ROAD during the first Practice, trying to warm up his tires on a very cold and wet morning practice. He hit Bobby Hamilton's parked car as he spun. I remember watching Geoff Bodine's lap live (WHY DIDN'T I RECORD IT???), and thinking that it was absolute insanity. 27. Anonymous posted: 11.09.2010 - 4:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) A thrilling race between Labonte, Jarrett, and Martin at the end, and an even more thrilling points battle. Gordon struggled all race long, much like he had at Phoenix the week before, and at times could barely hang on to a top 20 position. Martin and Jarrett ran up front the entire way, and at times both were ahead of Gordon in the standings. Jeff clawed his way to 17th, just one position higher than the 18th he needed to clinch, and was able to hold on to win his second career title. 28. sk posted: 03.25.2011 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) the first-round qualifying session for this race was the first time i'd ever watched time trials on espn. not a bad one to start with. apart from bodine's pole, i remember spencer looked painfully slow in his first run driving the winston colors, barely clawing his way into the field via owner points. 29. RaceFanX posted: 11.12.2011 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenny Irwin was sponsored in this race by G.I. Joe / Winners Circle. 30. Evan posted: 01.29.2012 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) * Last race for the Ford Thunderbird in full time NASCAR competition, although some teams ran the Ford Thunderbird in 1998 Chad Little in some restrictor plate races and Jimmy Spencer in the 23 at Talladega are some as well as Billy Standridge running some in Daytona and Talladega for his underfunded team. * Final race for Ernie Irvan in the Black and Orange 28, ending a relationship that began in 1993. Kenny Irwin was not much and RYR just was not a good fit for the young driver. * Final race for the regular Pontiac from 1996-1997 as the teams would switch to a wider Pontiac for 1998 and on. The Wide Track Grand Prix was much wider than some of the Cup cars but it was only ran for 1998-99. Because of the rules they could run a lower balance then. * Last race for Mark Martin's 1995 Paint Scheme he ran at the Brickyard 400 before switching to it for good in 1996. In 1998, he swapped to a stylized number 6 he ran from 1998-2000 to reflect Valvoline's new stylized logo. Mark still had a good year setting the fastest race at talladega which went caution free. * Last race for the Diamond Ridge Motorsports and Cartoon Network and Tom and Jerry car and the last race for the number 29 as the team would disband. Number 29 would not surface again until 2001 when Kevin Harvick replaced Dale Earnhardt but the current 29 is still the 3 team. * Final run for Chad Little in a Pontiac, in the subsequent years Little would run a Ford. * Last race for Jeremy Mayfield in the KMart car, Mayfield would drive a similiarly painted 12 car and be sponsored by Mobil 1 the next year. Kmart however would not be back in the Cup Series until 2000. * Final race for Richard Jackson Motorsports and final full time ride for Morgan Shepherd, he's been a part-time driver since. * Last race for the 25...for now. The team would voluntarily switch to the number '50' in 1998 to honor the 50th anniversary of NASCAR. The team would switch back in 1999. * Last race for Family Channel on the side of the 16, as Primestar would take over as sole sponsor, it was also the final year Ted Musgrave ran the full season with Roush Racing, Musgrave would run about half of 1998 before Kevin Lepage replaced him. * Last race for Darrell Waltrip being sponsored by Western Auto/Parts AMERICA and his final race in the black and gray and orange paint scheme. A sad end to Darrell's time as a team owner he got a raw deal when Speedblock failed to sign the checks leading to a messy divorce. In 1998, Darrell served as a sub driver for Steve Park in the Pennzoil Chevy and also drove the Tabasco Pontiac for owner Tim Beverly. 31. Spen posted: 06.19.2012 - 3:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not only was this Cope's last top ten in Cup, it's his last top ten to date in *any* of the top three series. And when you consider that he's had 285 starts (not to mention 121 DNQ's) since this race, that's really, really sad. 32. 18fan posted: 11.15.2012 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Labonte held a 20 second lead at one point in this race. 33. myself posted: 05.28.2013 - 2:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Nice driving in the '97 season, Earnhardt! LOL! 34. BlackChevy14 posted: 09.24.2013 - 8:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bodine's record could be in jeopardy within the next few years. According to track president Ed Clark, they'll have to repave soon out of necessity with the surface wearing out so much. Qualifying speeds will likely be incredible once they do. Joe Nemechek's first Atlanta top-10 (only his second top-15 there in his eighth start), he would nearly win the rain-shortened event in October 2002. He did record a Nationwide win in 2001. 35. sk posted: 09.14.2014 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Todd Bodine was the 2nd fastest in practice and tremendously optimistic about his pole chances, too, but his car broke loose during his lap and he wound up being the last driver bumped. Todd was devastated and seemingly holding back tears during his post-qualifying interview, but he'd return to Atlanta the following spring and put his Tabasco Pontiac on the front row. 36. myself posted: 04.16.2015 - 10:35 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) A Bodine spinning......go figure! 37. Anonymous posted: 04.16.2015 - 11:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (4) Yeah, almost as bad as the laughably pathetic attempts of the Yarborough car outside the superspeedways. 38. Premium Doesn't Suck 62 66 94 98 posted: 09.24.2015 - 10:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor update: #11 Brett Bodine Racing 39. Bad Booking posted: 02.28.2016 - 7:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The track record still holds up, even though until lap 323 it was in serious jeopardy due to an extremely clean race in the 2016 Folds for Honor Quiktrip 500. 40. Anthony posted: 10.11.2016 - 7:15 pm Rate this comment: (2) (2) Who needs a Chase for an exciting 3-way finale? 41. RaceFanX posted: 05.26.2017 - 5:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Buckshot gets to make his Cup debut in his native Georgia. 42. kup posted: 11.16.2017 - 1:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) UPS: universal points system. Driver's UPoints = Miles / Aver.Finish 1997 UPS _ Driver = Miles / AF 1373 _ Mark Martin 12360 / 9.0 1318 _ Dale Jarrett 12652 / 9.6 1249 _ Jeff Gordon 11989 / 9.6 1034 _ Dale Earnhardt 12509 / 12.1 996 _ Jeff Burton 12352 / 12.4 954 _ Terry Labonte 12303 / 12.9 903 _ Bobby Labonte 12375 / 13.7 787 _ Bill Elliott 12434 / 15.8 711 _ Johnny Benson Jr 12511 / 17.6 695 _ Ken Schrader 12370 / 17.8 586 _ Rusty Wallace 10960 / 18.7 & TOTAL: UPS! 49 years 1949-1997: Dale Earnhardt 8 in: '80, '86, '87, '89, '91, '93, '94, '95. Richard Petty 7 in: '63, '64, '67, '71, '72, '75, '79. Lee Petty 5 in: '50, '52, '54, '58, '59. David Pearson 4 in: '66, '68, '69, '76. Cale Yarborough 3 in: '74, '77, '78. Bobby Allison 3 in: '81, '82, '83. Buck Baker 2 in: '56, '57. Rex White 2 in: '60, '61. Terry Labonte 2 in: '84, '96. Mark Martin 2 in: '90, '97. Bill Blair 1 in: '49. Fonty Flock 1 in: '51. Herb Thomas 1 in: '53. Tim Flock 1 in: '55. Joe Weatherly 1 in: '62. Ned Jarrett 1 in: '65. Bobby Isaac 1 in: '70. Benny Parsons 1 in: '73. Darrell Waltrip 1 in: '85. Bill Elliott 1 in: '88. Alan Kulwicki 1 in: '92. 43. RaceFanX posted: 11.19.2017 - 12:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Race sponsor NAPA Auto Parts ran a contest tying in with this called "Win with the Winner" where a fan could win $100,000 if they could correctly predict the winner of this race. The contest is remembered because of the commercial they made to promote it featuring the late Dick Trickle who was more than willing to engage in a little self deprecating humor. In the commercial Trickle told the fans they should be sure to pick him before the ad reminded viewers Trickle hadn't won in more than 240 Cup starts at the time in Winston Cup competition at the time. Commerical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiav10qD4xc Dick Trickle didn't get to taste the champagne on this day but did turn in a solid run, finishing in the top-15. 44. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 12.21.2017 - 12:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tim Steele was scheduled to run the No. 15 Daytona USA Ford for Bud Moore, but a bad crash ended any possibility of racing. A video of the remains of his car is up on YouTube under "Forgotten NASCAR Practice and Qualifying Crashes 6" (5:16) 45. Gabriel posted: 05.05.2018 - 9:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Derrike Copes last Top 5, and Top 10 to date. 46. Joshua posted: 09.20.2018 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Final race for Bobby Hamilton driving the #43. Bobby would move to MMM's famous #4 Kodak Chevy for 1998 and John Andretti took over the #43 driving duties for a second spell, the first coming in the second half of 1994. The moves worked out for all involved parties as both Hamilton and Andretti got their 1998-1999 rides to victory lane once each during the course of both seasons, coincidentally both at Martinsville. Final race in which the Remington #75 Ford sported a metallic green base that had adorned the car for the 1996 and 1997 seasons. For 1998, the car became primarily yellow, with hunters' green and orange trim. While Ernie Irvan never lodged a Top 5 finish with the #36 Skittles team, he finished 6th 6 times over the course of 1998 and 1999, with the first such 6th-place finish coming in the next points-paying race, the 1998 Daytona 500. Final race for Cartoon Network on the #29 team; they moved over to Harry Melling's #9 effort for 1998, which effectively ended the Gary Bechtel #29 effort after a few races into the 1998 season. The #9 Melling team was set to run with sponsorship from the University of Nebraska for the entire 1997 season, but that deal fell apart before the season began. Racing Champions made some die cast of the #9 Nebraska Ford and there always seem to be a few still floating around on eBay nowadays. After the Melling team went unsponsored for much of the 1997 season, sporting the classic Melling red colors for most of their races, Cartoon Network in 1998 would serve as Melling's first full-time major sponsor since SPAM left the team at the end of the 1996 season. Final race, to that point, in a part-time effort for Steve Park driving something other than the famous #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet for DEI. Park would remain here until mid-2003 when he took over the #30 AOL Chevrolet for Richard Childress. Final race that Brett Bodine sported a navy blue base (or purple, I've never been able to tell) and yellow trim primarily unsponsored #11 car that served as the scheme for the Close Call sponsorship, before that deal fell apart and he picked up Paychex as the sponsor for the 1998 and 1999 seasons. That car sported a slick white base and blue trim with what looked like a checkered flag watermark. I believe this was the last race for Hanes on the Jim Wilson #78 Ford before the team acquired Pilot Travel Centers sponsorship for their 1998 efforts. Final race for the John Andretti/RCA/Cale Yarborough trio. The driver and sponsor would depart after 1997 and Cale brought in Thorn Apple Valley and Greg Sacks for the 1998 season. Sacks of course suffered injuries at Texas early in the year and Rich Bickle finished out the year, giving the team a highlight at Martinsville with the 4th place finish. 47. Anthony Nagle posted: 09.23.2018 - 2:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Look at all those Pontiacs in the top ten!! This was definitely an anomaly in this era of NASCAR. 48. Evan posted: 10.30.2018 - 8:05 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) This is also the best finish for a Cartoon Network sponsored-car I believe with Jeff Green driving, he also recorded a 7th place at California. Before that I think Steve Grissom finished 5th in the Cartoon Network colors at Rockingham in the spring and then in 1999, Jerry Nadeau recorded a top 5 for Cartoon Network on the Melling #9 at Watkins Glen. 49. RaceFanX posted: 05.23.2019 - 12:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Waltrip retires early as he makes his final start in his #17 Western Auto Parts America Chevrolet, bringing the curtain down on his association with Western Auto that begin in 1991 when he started his own team. At the time Sears owned Western Auto and was in the process of converting most of its stores into auto parts sales-only locations under the Parts America name but the end of its association with DW was soon followed by the end of the company itself. Sears sold it to Advance Auto Parts the following year and most Western Auto and Parts America stores were converted to Advance locations in the following years. Official use of the Western Auto name ended in the early-to-mid 2000s. 50. Greg9ChaseFan posted: 06.01.2019 - 11:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Had to go turn Atlanta into a cookie cutter as well. uhhgg 51. Darrell posted: 11.02.2019 - 1:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdraw: Tim Steele No. 15 DaytonaUSA Ford (Bud Moore) 52. Evan posted: 11.24.2019 - 11:48 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Best finish for Derrike Cope in the Skittles car for MB2's startup operation, before Ernie Irvan took it over the next year. 53. Altracing posted: 12.01.2019 - 1:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Only race this season that Chad Little would lead a race and the first time since the 1994 Daytona 500 54. Dennyfan05 posted: 03.14.2020 - 7:44 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Playoffs Using Modern System (without stage points) Round 1: Darlington,Richmond,New Hampshire 10 fords, 4 Chevys, 2 Pontiacs 1.Jeff Gordon 618 #24 Chevy 2.Dale Jarrett 344 #88 Ford 3.Mark Martin 298 #6 Ford 4.Jeff Burton 204 #99 Ford 5.Ricky Rudd 189 #10 Ford 6.Terry Labonte 73 #5 Chevy 7.Ernie Irvan 67 #28 Ford 7.John Andretti 67 #98 Ford 7.Rusty Wallace 67 #2 Ford 7.Dale Earnhardt 67 #3 Chevy 11.Bobby Labonte 64 #18 Pontiac 12.Ted Musgrave 61 #16 Ford 13.Bill Elliott 58 #94 Ford 14.Jeremy Mayfield 0 #37 Ford 14.Johnny Benson Jr 0 #30 Pontiac 14.Ken Schrader 0 #33 Chevy Eliminated: Andretti,Mayfield,Benson,Schrader Round 2: Dover,Martinsville,Charlotte 8 Fords 3 Chevys 1 Pontiac 1.Jeff Gordon 752 #24 Chevy 2.Dale Jarrett 411 #88 Ford 3.Mark Martin 298 #6 Ford 4.Jeff Burton 204 #99 Ford 5.Ricky Rudd 189 #10 Ford 6.Terry Labonte 73 #5 Chevy 7.Dale Earnhardt 67 #3 Chevy 7.Ernie Irvan 67 #28 Ford 7.Rusty Wallace 67 #2 Ford 10.Bobby Labonte 64 #18 Pontiac 11.Ted Musgrave 61 #16 Ford 12.Bill Elliott 58 #94 Ford Eliminated: T.Labonte,Irvan,Wallace,Musgrave Round 3 Talladega,Rockingham,Phoenix 5 Fords, 2 Chevys, 1 Pontiac 1.Jeff Gordon 752 #24 Chevy 2.Dale Jarrett 478 #88 Ford 3.Mark Martin 365 #6 Ford 4.Jeff Burton 271 #99 Ford 5.Ricky Rudd 189 #10 Ford 6.Dale Earnhardt 67 #3 Chevy 7.Bobby Labonte 64 #18 Pontiac 8.Bill Elliott 58 #94 Ford Eliminated Rudd,Earnhardt,Labonte,Elliott Final 4: Atlanta 3 fords, 1 Chevy 1.Dale Jarrett 2nd #88 Ford 2.Mark Martin 3rd #6 Ford 3.Jeff Gordon 17th #24 Chevy 4.Jeff Burton 34th #99 Ford 55. SweetRich posted: 03.14.2020 - 9:39 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The commentators for the race were Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons. The pit road reporters were Jerry Punch, John Kernan and Bill Weber. 56. JSPorts posted: 03.14.2020 - 9:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jarrett had a strong 1997, as did Mark Martin. Under the playoff format, they both would've beaten Gordon in the final standings. In real life, Jarrett finished a mere 14 points out of the championship, and Martin was only 29 back in 3rd. 57. rateus posted: 04.11.2020 - 2:05 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Tim Steele's crash happened during pre-race testing, the entry was wihdrawn before official practice began. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: