1997 Gateway 300

Race #20 of 30 in the 1997 NASCAR Busch Series Season

1997 Gateway 300
*Held on July 26, 1997 at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, IL*
240 L, 300 M, 482.88 KM - Scheduled Distance

FEATURE RESULTS

Fin	St	#	Driver	Sponsor	Make	Laps	Led	Status	Pts
1	12	29	Elliott Sadler	Phillips 66	Chevy	240	33	running	180
2	34	57	Jason Keller	Slim Jim	Chevy	240	0	running	170
3	19	4	Dale Shaw	Graybar, Buss Fuses	Chevy	240	10	running	165
4	17	38	Elton Sawyer	Barbasol	Ford	240	16	running	160
5	20	34	Mike McLaughlin	Royal Oak Charcoal	Chevy	240	0	running	155
6	22	33	Tim Fedewa	Kleenex	Chevy	240	0	running	150
7	15	45	Jeff Fuller	Hunter's Specialties	Chevy	240	0	running	146
8	29	37	Mark Green	Timber Wolf	Chevy	240	0	running	142
9	1	6	Joe Bessey	Power Team	Chevy	240	0	running	138
10	41	43	Dennis Setzer	Lance Snacks	Chevy	240	0	running	134
11	40	1	Hermie Sadler	DeWalt Tools	Chevy	238	0	running	130
12	39	88	Kevin Lepage	Hype Energy Drink, Security Central, Amalie Oil	Chevy	235	0	fuel pump	127
13	27	77	Brad Teague	Lear Corporation, UAW	Ford	235	0	running	124
14	3	99	Glenn Allen, Jr.	Luxaire	Chevy	233	0	running	121
15	8	3	Steve Park	ACDelco	Chevy	230	21	running	118
16	30	63	Tracy Leslie	Lysol, Rid-X, D-Con	Pontiac	226	0	running	115
17	14	74	Randy LaJoie	Fina	Chevy	224	0	ignition	112
18	6	85	Shane Hall	Luck's Foods	Chevy	221	0	engine	109
19	7	72	Mike Dillon	Detroit Gasket	Chevy	215	21	accident	106
20	23	44	Bobby Labonte	Shell Oil	Pontiac	208	41	accident	103
21	5	64	Dick Trickle	Dura Lube	Chevy	208	0	running	100
22	36	89	Johnny Chapman	AlarmSouth	Ford	205	0	accident	97
23	16	10	Phil Parsons	Channellock	Chevy	202	0	accident	94
24	24	36	Todd Bodine	Stanley	Pontiac	198	0	running	91
25	10	00	Buckshot Jones	Aquafresh	Pontiac	194	0	running	88
26	32	5	Terry Labonte	Bayer	Chevy	192	0	accident	85
27	11	17	Matt Kenseth	Kraft Singles	Chevy	164	0	engine	82
28	37	35	Lyndon Amick	Team Amick	Pontiac	130	0	handling	79
29	4	87	Joe Nemechek	BellSouth Mobility	Chevy	128	74	accident	76
30	35	80	Mark Krogh	Clearwater Forest Industries	Chevy	125	0	accident	73
31	31	68	Chris Diamond	J & L Motors	Chevy	109	0	oil leak	70
32	2	2	Ricky Craven	Raybestos	Chevy	87	24	accident	67
33	21	78	Nathan Buttke	Carquest Auto Parts	Chevy	83	0	engine	64
34	27	22	Scott Lagasse	Pest Offense	Chevy	81	0	overheating	61
35	38	49	Kyle Petty	N.W.O.	Chevy	75	0	accident	58
36	26	70	Dale Fischlein	Patriot Seeds	Chevy	75	0	accident	55
37	13	47	Robert Pressley	Sunoco, 360 Communication	Chevy	61	0	accident	52
38	18	31	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Sikkens Car Refinishes	Chevy	61	0	accident	49
39	25	84	Randy Porter	Sammy Kershaw, 84 Lumber	Ford	46	0	overheating	46
40	33	20	Jimmy Spencer	Zippo	Chevy	37	0	accident	43
41	9	7	Danny Edwards, Jr.	Clabber Girl	Chevy	7	0	accident	40
42	42	96	Stevie Reeves	Big A Auto Parts	Ford	7	0	accident	37
DID NOT QUALIFY
		12	Kenny Wallace	Graybar	Ford			DNQ
		56	Jeff Krogh	Clearwater Forest Industries	Chevy			DNQ
		50	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	Rawlings	Pontiac			DNQ
		55	Scot Walters	Brewco Collision Products	Chevy			DNQ
		21	Michael Waltrip	Band-Aid	Ford			DNQ
		97	Doug Reid, III	Godwin's GCI	Chevy			DNQ
		16	Mark Day	31-W Insulation	Pontiac			DNQ
		66	Perry Tripp	Pizza World	Ford			DNQ
		79	Brad Payne	Triangle Motorsports	Ford			DNQ
		86	Bill Hoff	Mawson & Mawson	Chevy			DNQ

RACE DATA
Did not start:
Did not qualify:
Time of Race: 3h:49:09
Starting Lineup Set By: Time Trials
Fast Qualifier:
Preliminary Feature Winners: [[Special:FormEdit/Driver/Template:(({PrelimWinnersTemplate:))\|[[:Template:]]}
Heat Winners: [[Special:FormEdit/Driver/Template:(({HeatWinnersTemplate:))\|[[:Template:]]}
Qualifier Winners: [[Special:FormEdit/Driver/Template:(({QualWinnersTemplate:))\|[[:Template:]]}
Dash Winners: [[Special:FormEdit/Driver/Template:(({DashWinnersTemplate:))\|[[:Template:]]}
Scramble Winners: [[Special:FormEdit/Driver/Template:(({ScrambleWinnersTemplate:))\|[[:Template:]]}
Consi Winners: [[Special:FormEdit/Driver/Template:(({ConsiWinnersTemplate:))\|[[:Template:]]}
Non-Qualifiers Race Winners: [[Special:FormEdit/Driver/Template:(({NonQualWinnersTemplate:))\|[[:Template:]]}
Margin of Victory: 0.187 seconds
Average Speed: 78.802 mph
Cautions: 14 for 81 laps - Laps 9-15 (#7,85,96 accident turn 2); Laps 39-44 (#20 accident turn 2); Laps 56-60 (#63 accident turn 2); Laps 63-70 (#31,35,47 accident backstretch); Laps 77-81 (#43,49,70,99 accident turn 2); Laps 89-92 (#2 accident turn 2); Laps 95-98 (#80 accident turn 2); Laps 122-127 (#36 accident turn 2); Laps 131-139 (#80 accident frontstretch); Laps 155-159 (#00 accident turn 2); Laps 183-190 (#77 spin turn 4); Laps 204-208 (#10,89 accident backstretch); Laps 210-213 (#3,44 accident turn 2); Laps 216-220 (#72 accident turn 2)
Lead Changes: 15 among 8 drivers - Ricky Craven (1-22); Joe Nemechek (23-41); Dale Shaw (42-45); Joe Nemechek (46-70); Ricky Craven (71-72); Mike Dillon (73-93); Joe Nemechek (94-123); Elton Sawyer (124-139); Steve Park (140); Elliott Sadler (141); Steve Park (142-156); Dale Shaw (157-162); Steve Park (163-167); Bobby Labonte (168-208); Elliott Sadler (209-240)
Fastest Lap: Unknown/Unentered
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Extreme heat led to treacherous track conditions, as well as driver conditions. Hence there were issues with the track itself coming apart, and very high attrition due to the many accidents. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. relief drove for an ill Glenn Allen, Jr. from around lap 134 until the end of the race, taking the car from 28th place to its eventual 14th place finish.