Originally published on Nov. 14, 2018
By Zane Miller
The Last Hurrah is a
series that discusses the final major sports events at sporting venues around
the world.
On Sunday, February 22nd,
2004, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) made
its final stop at North Carolina (now Rockingham) Speedway in Rockingham, North
Carolina, for the running of the Subway 400.
The track first opened in
1965, with the Cup Series racing there since the track’s opening year. Starting
the following season in 1966, the track began hosting two Cup events per
season, which continued through 2003. In 1969, the track changed its layout
slightly, going from a one mile long track to a 1.017 mile track, while adding
five to eight degrees of banking in the turns.
However, in a similar
case to North Wilkesboro Speedway, a track that I covered earlier, North
Carolina Speedway was victimized by NASCAR wanting to move into larger markets.
Late in 2003, NASCAR decided to give California (now Auto Club) Speedway a
second Cup race date for the 2004 season, which would be the penultimate race before
heading into the first ever “Chase for the Cup” playoffs. However, this would
cost Rockingham its second race date, meaning it would only hold one race in the
2004 season.
Unlike North Wilkesboro,
it had not been announced that this would be the final Cup race at North
Carolina Speedway, so the atmosphere before the green flag seemed like any
other race. The announcers talked about their picks to win the race and covered
the news from the previous week. The crowd was reported to be about 50,000 in
attendance out of the approximately 61,000 available seats, not including
infield campgrounds. While it was rumored at the time that it would be the last
race, it was far from confirmed at that point.
The race got underway
just past 1 p.m., with Ryan Newman starting on the pole and leading the first
two laps. However, the race also started on a weird note, with veteran driver
Joe Ruttman being parked by NASCAR on the first lap of the race, as they had
noticed that Ruttman did not have any pit crew or even a spotter, just the
driver and crew chief were the only team members at the track. It turned out
that it had been a shrewd cost cutting maneuver by team owner James Finch, who
was trying to save money by not paying a pit crew while still collecting the
money for starting the race. It worked, as the team still collected $54,196 for
making the race, however a NASCAR spokesperson reportedly called the move a
“sham”.
Jamie McMurray took the
lead on lap three, who led for the next several laps. Meanwhile, Robby Gordon
suffered his first incident of the race as he brushed the wall on lap 11, but
was able to continue. Kirk Shelmerdine became the second driver out of the race
on lap 19, as he pulled into the garage with rear end gear problems. McMurray
continued to hold the lead until lap 40, when the caution waved for the first
time as Ken Schrader hit the wall in turn one, however he would be able to
continue.
Jeff Gordon took the lead
on the ensuing round of pit stops, while Jeremy Mayfield would be penalized as
one of his tires rolled away from his pit crew and down pit road, where it was
hit by both John Andretti and Jeff Green. However, neither of those cars
suffered significant damage.
The teams wouldn’t have
to wait long for another caution, as Kyle Petty spun on the backstretch on lap
53 after contact with Johnny Sauter.
McMurray briefly took the
lead back from Gordon as the cars headed down pit road once again, however
Robby Gordon had other ideas and decided to stay out and assume the lead on lap
54. Also during the caution on lap 56, Jeff Burton would come to the garage
with engine troubles, and while he would return to the track later, he went
several laps down and eventually retired from the race.
Gordon was quickly
overtaken on the restart by Ryan Newman on lap 59, who led for the next handful
of laps before Jeff Gordon came back to retake the lead on lap 63. Kurt Busch,
who was trying to come through the field after a poor qualifying run, scraped
the wall on lap 66, but continued on without further incident. Gordon continued
to hold the lead until lap 90, when Matt Kenseth took his first lead of the
race. Not much would change until Newman grabbed the lead back on lap 130 during
a round of pit stops, which was followed two laps later by a crash between
Schrader and Jimmie Johnson. Schrader was attempting to pit, however Johnson
was not expecting the move and ran into the back of Schrader. Johnson also slid
into the turn four wall, causing further damage to his car, and would not be
able to continue in the race, while Schrader was able to continue with damage. During
the green flag pit stops, Michael Waltrip was penalized for leaving the pit box
with a wedge wrench still stuck in the rear windshield, and Kevin Harvick was
penalized for avoiding coming down pit road after passing through the
commitment line. Both drivers would have to restart from the tail end of the
longest line.
During the pit stops
under caution, the remainder of the lead lap cars who had not yet pitted came
down, allowing Kenseth to retake the lead on lap 136. However, also on lap 136,
Kasey Kahne would be hit with the same penalty that befell Waltrip, as he also
left the box with a wedge wrench still in the car. He, too, would have to
restart from the tail end of the longest line.
On lap 143, Bobby Labonte
and Casey Mears would make contact in a battle for position, which caused
Labonte to have a flat tire a lap later and had to make an unscheduled pit
stop. On lap 188, Larry Foyt, who had made a pit stop under green, had to come in
again with yet another wedge wrench stuck in the rear windshield. Lap 192 saw
Tony Stewart, who had been struggling with an ill-handling car throughout the
race, have to make an unscheduled stop for a flat tire, just like his teammate
Labonte. A caution came out just four laps later, as Foyt’s difficult race got
worse as he spun in turn one.
Kenseth maintained the
lead through pit stops and stayed up front, while Dale Jarrett suffered a blown
engine on lap 210 and was knocked out of the race. On lap 214, the caution came
out for a Miller Lite beer can, presumably thrown from the grandstands, on the
track, which brought the leaders down pit road, except for Harvick, who
attempted to stay out on old tires and led two laps under caution.
Kenseth took the lead
back from Harvick on lap 217, and stayed there through lap 265, where the most
spectacular wreck of the race and arguably the season took place.
It began as Brendan
Gaughan clipped and turned Joe Nemechek into the right-rear quarter panel of
Carl Long, who was with an underfunded team and running several laps down. Long
was hooked into the outside backstretch wall, but as the car hit the wall it
rolled onto its side. The car then slid on its side almost to turn three,
before eventually turning over onto its roof and tumbling over five and a half
times, landing on the roof before slowly turning back on all four wheels due to
the banking.
“I was just running
along, letting pretty much everybody by,” Long said after the race. “And all of
a sudden I'm in the air, looking right at the people eating chicken in the
grandstands.”
Nemechek and Bobby
Labonte both spun trying to avoid the accident, while Mark Martin suffered
minor damage as well due to the wreck. Long and all other drivers involved were
fine, and Long was the only one to be out of the race after the accident.
However, the wreck would be a big setback to his team as their only car was
destroyed, and would not be able to compete again until May, with help from fan
donations enabling them to purchase another car.
After the crash caused a
lengthy cleanup, the race got restarted on lap 280 with Kenseth still in the
lead. On lap 291, Martin and Ricky Craven made contact, adding to the damage on
Martin’s car, but both continued. McMurray grabbed the lead once again on lap
304, and was able to hold off Kenseth for the next several laps. On lap 330,
Greg Biffle brushed the wall, getting slight damage, but his teammate Kenseth
was able to grab the lead back from McMurray on lap 332.
The two drivers then
traded the lead again as McMurray regained the advantage on lap 350 while
Kenseth went in for a green flag pit stop, followed by a caution for another
scary-looking accident as Robby Gordon squeezed into Jeff Green coming off turn
two, but the car popped up and onto its side. Unlike Long’s accident, however,
the car did not roll over as it slid on its side briefly and landed back on all
four wheels before backing into the backstretch inside wall. Gordon even drove
it back to the pit area, but there was too much damage and was done for the
day.
As spectacular as the
crash was, it also shook up the running order as it had happened in the middle
of green flag pit stops. Kenseth and Kahne were nearly trapped a lap down by
the caution, but in a stroke of luck both were still on the lead lap when the
caution waved. McMurray’s crew chief, Donnie Wingo, argued that McMurray had in
fact put them a lap down before the caution came out, however it was to no
avail. Kenseth reassumed the lead on lap 360 as McMurray came down pit road. Despite
getting the lucky break, Kahne developed radio problems during the warmup laps
leading up to what would be the final restart, as the crew chief was unable to
hear the spotter, however it was far too late to lose track position trying to
fix it.
The race restarted with
30 laps to go, with Kenseth in first, Kahne in second and McMurray in third. Kenseth
kept the lead through the restart with a little help from the lapped car of
Martin, who was also Kenseth’s teammate, as Martin blocked a run that Kahne had
on the restart. NASCAR did not see kindly to the help that Martin provided and
while he wasn’t penalized, both him and his crew chief, Pat Tryson, were called
into the NASCAR hauler after the race.
Meanwhile, Kenseth was
not able to gap Kahne at all as Kahne began charging back through the final 30
laps, with McMurray in hot pursuit as well. Kenseth struggled to get through
lapped traffic, allowing Kahne to close right up to the bumper on the final
lap.
In turns one and two,
Kahne looked high to get around Kenseth, but did not have enough momentum to
get to the door, while McMurray was still less than two car lengths back. In
turns three and four, however, Kenseth made the mistake Kahne had been looking
for, drifting up high while Kahne had a run in the middle of the track. Kahne
had all the momentum coming to the finish line as the two drag raced down the
front stretch, but it wouldn’t be enough as Kenseth beat Kahne by .01 seconds,
at the time, the fourth-closest finish in Cup Series history.
“It was a blast, the end
was a little stressful,” Kenseth said in victory lane. “You’ve got to watch out
for Kasey Kahne because he’s kind of a sleeper… Our Ford Taurus was so good
today and I just had a blast, everyone in the Roush engine department and the
Yates engine department, everyone combined has done such a great job. We’ve
just got awesome engines, we’ve got a better body this year and I think you’ll
see a lot of this this year, maybe not from me but I think from all the Roush
boys. This is a good way to start it off.”
Kurt Busch, another one
of the “Roush boys” recovered from his brush with the wall and 27th
place starting spot to finish eighth, one of nine cars still on the lead lap.
Busch would go on to win three races and the championship, the first one under
the Chase format.
While it is most likely
the final Cup Series race ever held at the track, unlike North Wilkesboro it
never closed down immediately afterward. The track continued to be used as a
test track for the Cup Series drivers until 2008 when testing was banned by
NASCAR, and was even used as a filming location for the racing comedy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
In 2007, former driver
Andy Hillenburg, who started last and finished 34th, 17 laps down in
the track’s final Cup race, purchased the track and in 2008, racing returned to
the track once again as the ARCA Re/Max (now ARCA Racing) Series began racing
there from 2008-10. Also in 2008, the USAR Hooters Pro Cup (now CARS X1-R Pro
Cup) Series started racing their late models there as well. It was also in 2008
that the track officially renamed from ‘North Carolina Speedway’ to ‘Rockingham
Speedway’. Starting in 2009, the track also held an exhibition race called the
“Polar Bear 150” in which over 60 street stocks raced against each other on New
Year’s Day. All of this on-track activity eventually culminated in getting a
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race date in 2012, which was won by Kasey
Kahne. NASCAR also added a stock car race date too, with the NASCAR K&N Pro
Series East holding their final race of the 2012 season there.
By 2013, the number of
races went down significantly, as the Truck Series race, which was won by
current Cup Series racer Kyle Larson, was the only major race to happen on the
track that year. The Truck Series announced that they would not be returning to
the track in 2014, and in 2015 the property was foreclosed on.
However, there is still a lot of hope that racing may return to Rockingham once again. In August 2018, the track was purchased by a land developer named Dan Lovenheim. In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio in September, Lovenheim stated that he plans on having not only racing events back at Rockingham, but also festivals and concerts. He also plans on rebranding the property as the “Rock Entertainment Complex”.
Link to stats database: https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2004_Subway_400/W
Watch the full race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PChJIVDEVGU
Other sources: “NASCAR
Chronicle” by Greg Fielden
New Rockingham Speedway owner reaches out to NASCAR by Matt Weaver https://autoweek.com/article/nascar/new-rockingham-speedway-owners-have-reached-out-nascar
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