---

NASCAR Feather Lite Modified Tour: Carquest 300 Notes

23 September 1997

                            CARQUEST 300 NOTES



STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT - The 20th NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour race
of the season, the 18th Annual Carquest Fall Final, is scheduled for
Sunday, Sept.  28, at the Stafford (CT) Motor Speedway.

 - Posted awards for the 300-lap race are $89,800.

 - Time trials are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, with
the top 22 cars advancing to the feature. The remaining 16 positions
will be available for provisional starters (maximum of four) and from
the 20-lap qualifying race scheduled for 3:45 p.m. on Sept. 27 (Top 12
finishers advance to the feature).

 - This will be the 45th series race at Stafford since 1985.

 - The Carquest 300 will be the final of four series races at Stafford
in 1997. Mike Stefanik of Coventry, R.I., has won all three, the
Carquest Spring Sizzler in April, Connecticut Classic in May and the
Stafford 150 in August.  He is the first driver to win three
consecutive series races at Stafford.

 - The Carquest 300 will be televised nationally, on a tape delay
basis, on ESPN 2. The scheduled air date for the race is Wednesday,
Oct. 1, at 9:30 p.m.

 - Tom Baldwin is the defending champion of the Carquest 300. 1996 was
the first year the Carquest Fall Final had a race distance of 300
laps. Baldwin also won the race in 1991. Drivers currently competing
in the series with victories in this event are Reggie Ruggiero (2)
1987, and 89, Mike Stefanik (4), 1990, 92, 93, and 95 and Jamie
Tomaino 1986.

 - Tim Connolly holds the track series qualifying record at 95.969 mph
(18.756 seconds), set May 23, 1997. The 300-lap race record is 59.415
mph, (2 hours, 34 minutes,) established last year by Tom Baldwin in
the inaugural Carquest 300.

 - In the 19 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour races this season there
have been 136 official lead changes for an average of 7.2 per race.

 - Since the beginning of the season, 98 different drivers have
attempted to qualify for at least one NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour
race.

By NASCAR Public Relations