The 1997 Pocono 500 was a Winston Cup (now Nextel Cup) event held at Pocono Raceway on June 8, 1997. Ward Burton had the dominant car in the race, but his mid-race engine failure handed Jeff Gordon the victory, as Gordon pulled away to a 1.5-second victory on Jeff Burton. Gordon tied back up with Terry Labonte (9th) for the points lead. Stats