1997 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 1 of 32 in the1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
1997 Daytona 500 logo
Date	February 16, 1997 (1997-02-16)
Location	Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida,U.S.
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.02336 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Weather	Temperatures hovering around 63 °F (17 °C); wind speeds reaching up to 23 miles per hour (37 km/h)[1]
Average speed	148.295 miles per hour (238.658 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Mike Skinner	Richard Childress Racing
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing
Duel 2 Winner	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Most laps led
Driver	Mark Martin	Roush Racing
Laps	52
Winner
No. 24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	CBS
Announcers	Ken Squier,Buddy Baker, andNed Jarrett
Nielsen ratings	8.6/23 (12.8 million viewers)

The1997 Daytona 500, the 39th running of theevent, was held on February 16 atDaytona International Speedway inDaytona Beach, Florida. Consisted of 200 laps and 500 miles, it was the first race of the1997 Winston Cup season.Mike Skinner, driving the #31 car forRichard Childress Racing, won the pole andJeff Gordon, driving the #24 Chevrolet forHendrick Motorsports, won the race. The race was broadcast on television byCBS.

Daytona International Speedway is arace track inDaytona Beach, Florida that is one of sixsuperspeedways to holdNASCAR races, the others beingMichigan International Speedway,Auto Club Speedway,Indianapolis Motor Speedway,Pocono Raceway andTalladega Superspeedway.^[2] The standard track at Daytona is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track also features two other layouts that utilize portions of the primary high speedtri-oval, such as a 3.56-mile (5.73 km)sports car course and a 2.95-mile (4.75 km) motorcycle course.^[3] The track's 180-acre (73 ha) infield includes the 29-acre (12 ha) Lake Lloyd, which has hostedpowerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated byInternational Speedway Corporation.

The track was built by NASCAR founderBill France, Sr. to host racing that was being held at the formerDaytona Beach Road Course and opened with thefirst Daytona 500 in 1959.^[4] The speedway has been renovated three times, with the infield renovated in 2004,^[5] and the track repaved in 1978 and 2010.^[6]

The Daytona 500 is regarded as the most important and prestigious race on the NASCAR calendar.^[7] It is also the series' first race of the year; this phenomenon is virtually unique in sports, which tend to have championships or other major events at the end of the season rather than the start. Since1995, U.S.television ratings for the Daytona 500 have been the highest for any auto race of the year, surpassing the traditional leader, theIndianapolis 500 which in turn greatly surpasses the Daytona 500 in in-track attendance and international viewing. The2006 Daytona 500 attracted the sixth largest average live global TV audience of any sporting event that year with 20 million viewers.^[8]

• Joe Nemechek'scar ownerFelix Sabates bought the #73 entry ofPhil Barkdoll, who had qualified 38th. Nemechek went to the #73 for the 500.
• Remington Arms placed their sponsor logos on the #19Ford driven byLoy Allen Jr. forTri-Star Motorsports afterRick Mast failed to qualify theRahMoc car.
• Robert Pressley's car caught air after he spun on lap 10. The rear of the car lifted so much, the car was temporarily sliding across the track on its nose. The landing was quite hard, so afterthe crew repaired the car, thenBusch Series competitor and future 2-timeCamping World Truck Series ChampionTodd Bodine hopped in to complete more laps.
• Dale Earnhardt was involved in a crash in a six-way battle for the lead with 12 laps to go, in which his #3Chevrolet scraped the backstretch wall by itself, then made contact with Dale Jarrett causing Earnhardt's car to roll over. While his car was on its roof, Earnhardt was contacted byErnie Irvan in the #28Ford. The hood of Irvan's car detached and sailed into the backstretch grandstand, injuring a few spectators. While sitting in an ambulance after the crash, Earnhardt noticed that his tires were still on the car after the crash, had it taken off the tow truck, and drove it back to pit road. The car was repaired as best as the team could, and Earnhardt was able to return to the race, 5 laps down in 31st.
• The race ended under caution after the Big One occurred on lap 196, involving 13 cars.
• Hendrick Motorsports posted a 1-2-3 finish with Gordon winning the race,Terry Labonte finishing second, andRicky Craven finishing third. The team used aformation finish as the race ended under thesafety car, which was possible at the time.
• At age 25,Jeff Gordon became the youngestDaytona 500 winner ever.Richard Petty had previously been the youngest winner in1964, when he won the 500 at age 26. Gordon's record was surpassed whenTrevor Bayne won the2011 Daytona 500 at age 20.

The Daytona 500 was covered byCBS for the nineteenth time in the United States.Ken Squier, two-timeNASCAR Cup Series championNed Jarrett and1980 race winnerBuddy Baker called the race from the broadcast booth.Mike Joy,Dick Berggren andRalph Sheheen reported from pit road.

• 1997 in sports in Florida
• 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
• NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway

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