🏁On August 31, 1997 the Mountain Dew Southern 500 was held at the Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The initial Winston Million winner in 1985, Bill Elliott, leads a race high 181 of the 367 laps, but ultimately finishes 4th. Jeff Gordon would go on to win his 3rd (of four straight) Southern 500 over Jeff Burton, and with this win (along with his Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600 wins earlier in the year) would clinch the Winston Million in its final running of the promotion in NASC