NASCAR Winston Cup Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 Preview: #98, J. Andretti
4 September 1997
#98 John Andretti, RCA Ford Thunderbird
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400
Richmond International Raceway
WIN, SEVERAL CAREER BESTS HIGHLIGHT ANDRETTI'S YEAR WITH YARBOROUGH
RICHMOND, VA - Last year at this time RCA Racing driver John Andretti was
just being introduced to the members of the Cale Yarborough Motorsports team.
Crew chief Tony Furr and Andretti had only spoken a handful of times, so when
Andretti donned the RCA uniform for the first time at Richmond International
Raceway last fall, no one really knew what to expect and it showed.
of time together and a poor-handling race car led to a less than stellar
36th-place finish in their first race together.
In the one year since the Andretti-Jeremy Mayfield swap, the RCA team has
seen a lot of positive changes.
The team produced the quickest car during winter test sessions. A win, a pole
and several career bests highlight the season for RCA Racing:
WINTER - Andretti tops all winter test session speeds at Daytona
International Speedway. A miscommunication between Andretti and crew led to a
less-than-spectacular finish (25th) in the Daytona 500 and thus left the RCA
team feeling a lot was left on the table in the '97 season opener.
SPRING - Andretti grabbed his second career pole, this time at Talladega
Superspeedway for the Winston 500. When the much rain-delayed race was
finally run - two weeks after Andretti captured the pole - he matched a
then-career-best Winston Cup finish of fourth.
In between he and the RCA crew qualified a best-ever 17th at Sears Point.
SUMMER - The heat of summer brought out the best in the RCA team. Andretti
powered to his first-ever Winston Cup victory - and the first ever for
Yarborough as a car-owner - in the blistering July heat at Daytona.
The team followed that up with a career-best 14th at Loudon, which should
have been a top-10 finish but for a last-lap crash.
FALL - The night air of Bristol brought another career-best finish on a track
that had been a nemesis to both Andretti and the team. Andretti survived the
crash-fest with a banged up machine but still grabbed an 11th-place finish
on a track that had sent him home prematurely twice.
Andretti missed the spring events at BMS in 1994 and 1996.
"We've obviously learned a lot about each other and we're continuing to do
so," Andretti said. "We knew when the season started that we had a lot of
potential that nobody had seen yet. Now I think we have displayed a lot of
that, but there is a lot more to go. Proving ourselves on tracks where our
history isn't very strong is still the test."
1997 SEASON RESULTS
POINTS
DATE LOCATION START FINISH MONEY STATUS POSITION
2-16 Daytona Beach, FL 32 25 63,325 Running 25
2-23 Rockingham, NC 25 34 19,015 Running 32
3-2 Richmond, VA 22 31 20,615 Running 33
3-9 Atlanta, GA 33 15 31,805 Running 28
3-23 Darlington, SC 33 25 21,165 Running 30
4-6 Fort Worth, TX 30 12 80,300 Running 27
4-13 Bristol, TN 26 24 23,490 Running 27
4-20 Martinsville, VA 27 28 19,615 Running 25
5-4 Sonoma, CA 17 30 31,710 Running 26
5-10 Talladega, AL 1 4 57,920 Running 22
5-17 Charlotte, NC ** 12 9 7,500 Running ** Non-Points
5-25 Charlotte, NC 26 30 28,450 Running 24
6-1 Dover, DE 23 29 25,490 Running 26
6-8 Pocono, PA 9 40 17,265 Engine 26
6-15 Brooklyn, MI 40 37 21,890 Running 27
6-22 Fontana, CA 35 21 34,975 Running 27
7-5 Daytona Beach, FL 3 1 109,525 Running 24
7-13 Loudon, NH 8 14 33,425 Accident 22
7-20 Pocono, PA 13 24 21,415 Running 22
8-2 Indianapolis, IN 35 17 80,095 Running 22
8-10 Watkins Glen, NY 30 20 24,885 Running 22
8-17 Brooklyn, MI 25 30 22,490 Running 22
8-23 Bristol, TN 20 11 27,915 Running 22
8-31 Darlington, SC 32 37 19,416 Accident 22
By RCA Racing Public Relations
