Primestar 500
The Primestar 500 was run on March 9 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The #40 of Robby Gordon won the pole. The race was broadcast on ABC.
Top Ten Results
- 88-Dale Jarrett
- 28-Ernie Irvan
- 1-Morgan Shepherd
- 18-Bobby Labonte
- 99-Jeff Burton
- 6-Mark Martin
- 21-Michael Waltrip
- 3-Dale Earnhardt
- 5-Terry Labonte
- 43-Bobby Hamilton
Failed to qualify: 29-Robert Pressley, 36-Derrike Cope, 46-Wally Dallenbach, Jr., 71-Dave Marcis, 77-Bobby Hillin, Jr., 95-Ed Berrier, 08-Mike Miller
- This was the final race held on the 1.522-mile (2.449 km) configuration of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Renovations had already started that would turn the racetrack into a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval.
- This race was red flagged on lap 282 due to a crash involving the #41 of Steve Grissom. The #23 of Jimmy Spencer had spun out off Turn 2 and was hit by the #31 of Mike Skinner. Grissom spun to avoid this wreck and hit the inside wall near where there was a gate allowing infield access for motorhomes. Because of this, the car hit the wall tail first, breaking the wall, shearing the fuel cell out of the car and putting Grissom on his roof. The #91 of Mike Wallace backed off the throttle upon seeing the accident, which caused his exhaust to throw flames right over the fuel cell (which was sitting along the outside wall at the end of the backstretch). This caused a significant fire. Grissom was not seriously injured.
Read more about this topic: 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series