|| *Comments on the 2004 World Financial Group 150:* View the most recent comment <#16> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Anonymous posted: 03.04.2015 - 10:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The last race in ASA National Tour history. Mark Martin, the Cup driver, finished 5th. 2. RaceFanX posted: 04.12.2015 - 4:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Garvey puts his name in the record book as the winner of the final ASA race. he won three of the series' final four races. Mark Martin won four ASA titles and made his name in the series. It's a nice touch he came back to run what was ultimately the series' last race. This was his first ASA start since the Minnesota State Fair race back in 1996. 3. RaceFanX posted: 03.05.2016 - 1:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The battle for ASA's ultimately final championship came right down to the last race of the season as former champs Kevin Cywinski and Bryan Reffner and series staple Mike Garvey all came in with a shot to take the final title. Garvey beat Reffner to win the race but Cywinski's top-10 placed him just high enough to win the series by 10 points over Reffner and 29 over Garvey, one of the narrowest titles in series history. The title fight was so close that it took about 30 minutes after the race to finalize who was the champion. Cywinski stayed out on an early caution to lead a lap and get five bonus points, a key decision to helped earn the title later. He fell as far back as 30th place at one point in this race after some serious adjustments to his #1 Dodge but they paid off as he raced back to the front to earn the crown. He was the first driver to successfully defend an ASA title since Mike Eddy's back-to-back championships in 1991 and 1992. Martin started deep in the field in 35th, ASA's last qualifying session was rained out, but stormed through the field to a top-5 run, earning the last VP Fuels Hard Charger award. The Atlanta Motor Speedway paid the race purse directly to the racers for this event amid ASA's severe financial woes. World Financial Group stepped up to sponsor this race this race at the last minute and help assure it went ahead. 4. Zach posted: 06.10.2016 - 6:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why did this series stop running? 5. Karn Evil 9 posted: 06.10.2016 - 7:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Financial problems, if I remember right. 6. Brandon posted: 10.22.2016 - 2:11 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) ASA's final race, it all started in 1973 with 24 drivers taking the green at Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Kentucky with Dave Sorg taking the checkers, and 558 races later, little did I know on my third birthday, that while I was celebrating with family, a well known racing series would be taking it's final stand, they raced at Atlanta, with a veteran in Mark Martin returning for one last go, and Mike Garvey taking the checkered flag in what would be Chevrolet's 362nd and final win, what a series this was, and what hardships this series faced near it's end, but it'll always be remembered by avid fans and admirers alike. 7. rm posted: 08.23.2018 - 12:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Working on trying to find it, but I do believe footage from this race exists due to it being a companion event with the Nextel Cup race. The last race I know for certain that was televised on SPEED was Jennerstown but I think Elko might have been part of the SPEED deal as well before that died off. Would really like to see what happened in this race because it sure looks like a mess. 8. rm posted: 10.04.2018 - 2:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was a 150 kilometer race. 90 miles is something like 144 km, so close enough I guess? Qualifying was rained out. 27 cars had taken time when the skies opened up. Jay Middleton had been on the pole but the rain meant he was pushed back to 19th, smack in the middle of the pack and the last place he wanted to be in what drivers described as a smaller, tighter Talladega race. There were 10 lead changes among 8 drivers. The margin of victory was 0.142 seconds. There were 2 red flags to clean up multi-car accidents. 9. rm posted: 10.04.2018 - 2:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One last note: Mark Martin's car was owned by Tom Logano. 10. Spen posted: 10.04.2018 - 3:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That explains why he was so high on Joey. 11. Unser1 posted: 10.23.2019 - 2:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The future of ASA was very much up in the air after this race, the series was seeking a new title sponsor and hoped to return in 2005 despite its issues, but the writing was on the wall. Just days after this race WalTom Racing, the team run by siblings Walter and Tom Gleitsman that fielded Robbie Pyle and Stephen Leicht's CITGO Chevrolets, announced that it would be closing up shut amid the financial woes. Pyle's last race with the team saw the red #63 Chevy taken out in the multi-car crash on lap 45 and the backend torn up so bad the fuel cell was hanging out of it. 12. Trickledown posted: 07.22.2020 - 6:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pretty solid field for a final race for ASA 13. Tarheel posted: 07.22.2020 - 7:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's a shame this series had to fold, I really enjoyed watching it. A lot of eventual Nascar stars ran in ASA on their way to the top. 14. possum posted: 07.22.2020 - 8:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @13 - I agree. Back in the day when you had the ASA in the midwest, ACT in the northeast, and All-Pro in the south, all running basically the same car and rules, there was some really good racing from some really good drivers. @4 - basically Viacom (owner of CBS) screwed them. ASA's finances were based on income from their contract with TNN; when Viacom bought TNN they refused to honor the contract. After the lawyers were done fighting ASA's owner (who's name escapes me) was fed up with the whole thing and sold the series to a guy with no experience as a promoter; he couldn't make it pay and the whole thing collapsed (eventually he sold the remains to two different people, who spent several years fighting each other to figure out who owned it, and eventually it just disappeared). Of course, Viacom screwed everyone at TNN too, folding it into MTV and giving it an unending stream of new names. 15. KW posted: 07.22.2020 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rex Robbins started and owned ASA and after the CBS/TNN debacle his and his wife were both having health issues and sold to Steve Dale. There is a book about ASA and Rex called "Lets Go Racing" which is really good. 16. MSportRev posted: 11.13.2020 - 1:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Qualifying was rained out. No Time Trials. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: