The 1997 TranSouth Financial 400 was the fifth stock car race of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 41st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 23, 1997, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366 miles (2.198 km) permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 293 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett would fiercely defend his lead against Roush Racing driver Ted Musgrave to take his tenth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his second victory of the season, and his second consecutive victory. To fill out the top three, Musgrave and Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would finish second and third, respectively.

The 1997 Primestar 500 was the fourth stock car race of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 38th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 9, 1997, in Hampton, Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.522 miles (2.449 km) permanent asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway. The race took the scheduled 328 laps to complete. At race's end, Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett would dominate the majority of the race to take his ninth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first of the season. To fill out the top three, Robert Yates Racing driver Ernie Irvan and Precision Products Racing driver Morgan Shepherd would finish second and third, respectively.