Hey everyone, so I’ve been digging into the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series lately. Man, what a wild ride that was! I mean, we’re talking about the 49th season of professional stock car racing here, and it was a blast from start to finish.

So, I started by looking up the schedule. The whole thing kicked off on February 9th and went all the way to November 16th. That’s a long season! And guess what? Jeff Gordon, that speed demon from Hendrick Motorsports, snagged his second Cup championship. Pretty cool, right?
- First, I dove into the Daytona 500. It all started there, on February 16th. What a race! I watched some old footage, and it was intense. You should check it out, too, if you haven’t seen it.
- Next, I started checking out all the race results from that year. It’s crazy how many races they had back then. I made a little spreadsheet to keep track of who won each one.
- Then I got curious about the drivers and their points. So I found this website that has all the stats from like, forever. It’s a bit clunky, but it’s got everything you could ever want. I spent hours just browsing through it, it’s kind of addictive.
- After that, I started looking into the different teams and drivers from that year. There were some big names, like Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, and Ricky Craven. I even found some old interviews and articles about them. It’s like stepping back in time.
- I also checked out a couple of specific races in more detail, like the Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 in Richmond. I tracked down the broadcast schedule and everything. Those old ESPN broadcasts are a trip.
Finally, I put together all the information I found about the circuits, the drivers, and the teams. It’s so interesting to see how things have changed since then, but also how some things have stayed the same.
Oh, and I also stumbled upon some interesting stuff about other NASCAR series from that year, like the Busch Series. It was cool to see how it all fit together.
I even watched that video where Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, and Ricky Craven swept the 1997 DAYTONA 500. Man, those guys were good.
And then I saw something about Joey Logano winning his third NASCAR Cup Series championship recently. It’s amazing how the sport keeps evolving.

It’s been a fun little project, and it really made me appreciate the history of NASCAR. If you’re a racing fan, I definitely recommend taking a look at the 1997 season. It’s a good one!