TranSouth Financial 400 Preview
March 23, 1997
Darlington Raceway
Darlington, South Carolina
Race 5 of 32 on Winston Cup Circuit
TV: ESPN, 1:00 p.m. EST
Radio: MRN Radio, 1:00 p.m. EST
Laps: 293
Track length: 1.366 miles
Race length: 400 miles
Banking: 23 degrees turns 1 & 2, 25 degrees turns 3 & 4
Qualifying record: Ward Burton, 173.797 mph, 1996
Race record: Dale Earnhardt, 132.432 mph, 1994
Drivers to Watch:
Ricky Craven -- off to another start where he is comfortably in the top 10 in points; finished third in this event last year which lifted him to a career-high fourth in the Winston Cup table; has only four starts at Darlington, and last year's finish is by far his best result; has a pair of top-fives and a 14th this season; team could take off with new crew chief Andy Graves.
Dale Earnhardt -- it's more than a full year since he last visited victory lane; Earnhardt has now gone 31 races without a win; the longest winless drought of his career stands at 39 races between October 1980 and April 1982; has only one top-10 through four races this season; the only driver with over $1 million in winnings at Darlinton.
Bill Elliott -- has shown some flashes of the old Bill Elliott this season, turning in an impressive fourth place at Daytona; has had some rough luck since, but looks determined to return to the winner's circle; the last win for "Million Dollar Bill" came at Darlington in the 1994 Southern 500; has an impressive record at Darlington with five wins, 18 top-fives and 29 top-10s in 38 career starts.
Jeff Gordon -- has "Wonderboy" tamed "The Track Too Tough to Tame?"; has remarkably won three in a row at Darlington, joining Dale Earnhardt (1989-90) as the only drivers to accomplish that feat; no driver has won four in a row at Darlington; has a pair of wins and two more top-fives through four races this season; fell from lead to fourth in points standing by finishing dead last in Atlanta with engine failure.
Dale Jarrett -- returned to the top of the Winston Cup points table for the first time this season; finished 15th in this event last year and 14th in fall in the Southern 500; in 18 starts at Darlington, has only managed four top-10s; the only driver to run every mile of every race this season; has led 748 laps of a possible 1,321 this season (56.6 percent); has finished in the top three in the last three races, including a win in Atlanta.
Bobby Labonte -- back-to-back top-10 finishes have lifted him to fifth in the Winston Cup points standings; he was 29th in the points at this time last year, and never rose above ninth last season; his runner-up finish last year was the best finish of his three top-10s in eight starts at Darlington.
Terry Labonte -- rock-steady Terry is riding a streak of 10 straight top-10 finishes into Darlington; the defending Winston Cup champion is currently second in the points table; has a record of 17 top-10s in 36 starts at Darlington including his first career Winston Cup victory in the 1980 Southern 500 (his only win at Darlington); his ninth place finish in Atlanta is his worst this season.
Mark Martin -- currently third in the points, but ended his top-10 streak two races ago with 17 straight; is currently mired in a run of 38 races without a win -- the longest winless skid since Martin recorded his first Winston Cup victory at Rockingham in October 1989; does have a streak where he's been running at the finish of the last 23 races; has 15 top-10s in his 22 career starts at Darlington, including a 1993 Southern 500 title.
