The 1997 Goody's Headache Powder 500 was the eighth stock car race of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 48th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 20, 1997, in Martinsville, Virginia at Martinsville Speedway, a 0.526 miles (0.847 km) permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. At race's end, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would dominate the majority of the race, recovering from a mid-race spin to take his 23rd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fourth victory of the season, and his second consecutive victory.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Petty Enterprises driver Bobby Hamilton and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.

Martinsville Speedway is an NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 18, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, April 19, at 1:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time.^[3] Positions 26-38 would be decided on time, and depending on who needed it, the 39th thru either the 42nd, 43rd, or 44th position would be based on provisionals. Four spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The fifth is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the field would be limited to 42 cars. If a champion needed it, the field would expand to 43 cars. If the race was a companion race with the NASCAR Winston West Series, four spots would be determined by NASCAR Winston Cup Series provisionals, while the final two spots would be given to teams in the Winston West Series, leaving the field at 44 cars.

Kenny Wallace, driving for FILMAR Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 20.153 and an average speed of 93.961 miles per hour (151.216 km/h).^[4]