The 1997 Food City 500 was the seventh stock car race of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 37th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 13, 1997, in Bristol, Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.533 miles (0.858 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. On the final lap of the race, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to complete a bump-and-run on Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace in the final two turns to take his 22nd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports driver Terry Labonte would finish second and third, respectively.