Motor car race
The
2004 Advance Auto Parts 500
was the eighth
stock car race
of the
2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
. It was held on April 18, 2004, at
Martinsville Speedway
in
Martinsville, Virginia
before a crowd of 91,000. The 500-lap race was won by
Rusty Wallace
of the
Penske-Jasper Racing
team after he started from a seventeenth position; It was Wallace's fifty-fifth and final victory of his career.
Bobby Labonte
finished second and
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
came in third.
Report
[
edit
]
Background
[
edit
]
Martinsville Speedway
is one of five
short tracks
to hold
NASCAR
races; the others are
Richmond International Raceway
,
Dover International Speedway
,
Bristol Motor Speedway
, and
Phoenix International Raceway
.
[4]
The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847 km)
oval
. Its turns are
banked
at eleven
degrees
, and neither the front stretch (the location of the finish line) nor the backstretch is banked.
[5]
Before the race
Kurt Busch
led the
Drivers' Championship
with 1,032 points, nineteen ahead of
Matt Kenseth
in second, and a further sixteen in front of
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
in third.
Tony Stewart
was fourth on 946 points, and
Elliott Sadler
was a further four points behind in fifth.
[6]
Ford
was leading the
Manufacturers' Championship
with 48 points;
Chevrolet
was second with 43 points, and
Dodge
was a close third on 42.
[7]
Jeff Gordon
was the race's defending champion.
[8]
Practice and qualifying
[
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]
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race: one on Friday and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, and the second and final sessions lasted 45 minutes.
[1]
Jeff Gordon was fastest in the first practice session with a lap of 20.325 seconds;
Ryan Newman
was second and
Jimmie Johnson
third.
Kasey Kahne
took the fourth position with a time of 20.371, and Busch placed fifth.
Robby Gordon
, Earnhardt,
Jamie McMurray
,
Ricky Rudd
, and Sadler rounded out the session's top-ten drivers.
[9]
Although forty-four drivers were entered in the qualifier; according to NASCAR's
qualifying procedure
, only forty-three could race.
[1]
Jeff Gordon clinched his third consecutive
pole position
at Martinsville Speedway with a time of 20.252 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the
grid
by McMurray. Newman qualified third, Earnhardt fourth, and
Kevin Harvick
fifth.
Ward Burton
, Busch, Johnson. Sadler and
Jeremy Mayfield
rounded out the top ten qualifiers. The driver that failed to qualify was
Todd Bodine
. After the qualifier, Gordon said, "We came with the basic setup that we sat on the pole here the last time with and we had to make some adjustments. We tweaked it and at the end of practice, I felt like we hit on some things. I took off and the car did everything I really wanted it to do. I couldn't ask for much more than I got out of the car."
[10]
On Saturday morning,
Mark Martin
set the fastest time in the second practice session with a lap of 20.561 seconds, ahead of Harvick and
Terry Labonte
.
Ricky Craven
(with a time of 20.599) was fourth-fastest; Mayfield was fifth and McMurray sixth. Jeff Gordon,
Scott Riggs
, Johnson, and Robby Gordon followed in the top ten.
[11]
Later that day, Earnhardt paced the final practice session with a time of 20.580; Johnson was second and Busch third. Jeff Gordon was fourth-fastest, ahead of Newman and Harvick. Terry Labonte was seventh-fastest, Robby Gordon eighth,
Jeff Green
ninth, and Craven tenth.
[12]
Jeff Burton
was afflicted with a problem with his brakes in the closing stages of the session; he spun back into the wall and heavily damaged his car's left side. Burton switched to a back-up car.
[1]
Standings after the race
[
edit
]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
c
d
"The Race: Advance Auto Parts 500"
.
Jayski's Silly Season Site
. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from
the original
on April 9, 2016
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"2004 Advance Auto Parts 500"
.
Racing-Reference
. USA Today Media Sports Group. Archived from
the original
on April 6, 2016
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
"TV Ratings 2004"
.
Jayski's Silly Season Site
. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from
the original
on February 13, 2014
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
"NASCAR Race Tracks"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from
the original
on October 12, 2010
. Retrieved
October 22,
2010
.
- ^
ESPN SportsTravel (October 26, 2011).
"Martinsville Speedway"
.
ESPN
. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from
the original
on January 4, 2012
. Retrieved
January 11,
2016
.
- ^
"2004 Official Driver Standings: Samsung/Radio Shack 500"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from
the original
on October 23, 2007
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"2004 Manufacturers Championship and all time Manufacturers Wins"
.
Jayski's Silly Season Site
. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from
the original
on August 3, 2015
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
"2003 Virginia 500"
.
Racing-Reference
. USA Today Media Sports Group.
Archived
from the original on April 1, 2016
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
"Practice 1 Speeds"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from
the original
on October 30, 2004
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
"Gordon wins third straight pole at Martinsville"
.
USA Today
. Gannett Company. Associated Press. April 16, 2004.
Archived
from the original on October 9, 2016
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
"Practice 2 Speeds"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from
the original
on October 30, 2004
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
- ^
"Practice 3 Speeds"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from
the original
on October 30, 2004
. Retrieved
January 31,
2016
.
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