|| *Comments on the 2003 O'Reilly 300:* View the most recent comment <#23> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. tquievryn posted: 01.03.2005 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Joe Nemechek won Brian Vickers' race. Brian Vickers was dominating the race, coming down to a restart with a couple laps to go. However, he was penalized for passing too early. He claimed later, he was trying to avoid a massive wreck. Oddly enough, that exact thing happened on the next restart, collecting 13 cars, including Vickers. From them, it was smooth sailing for Nemechek. Notes: David Reuittimann became the first driver for NEMCO and Hills Bros.'s driver development plan. He led some, before finishing 24th. Joe Armendia made his BUSCH debut in 20th. Lance Norick and Andy Belmont both made their first starts in years. Troy Cline DNQed in his attempt to make his debut. 2. Mike D posted: 02.19.2005 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Vickers spun early in the race, fought his way from last to first, dominated. With a few left while leading he was penalized for jumping the restart. And that 19 year old kid took it amazingly... This race made me a Viickers fan for life... 3. Darrell posted: 10.08.2005 - 3:46 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Anyone who claims that NA$CAR favors Hendrick drivers has conveniently forgotten this race. Go Vickers! 4. HomeDepot20TS posted: 11.27.2005 - 7:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Aramendia needed his butt beat after wrecking Hamilton Jr. 5. Miller4Prez64 posted: 05.02.2006 - 8:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pothead Shane Hmiel finishes 3rd 6. mcmurrayfan posted: 07.01.2006 - 12:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Chad Blount had his career best finish in this race. 7. smiff posted: 01.08.2007 - 3:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I heard it was coke, as well as pot that got him the boot. 8. McMurrayFan26 posted: 03.30.2007 - 2:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmy Spencer's last career top 10 driving for Terry Bradshaw, funny thing is that Spencer is a Steelers Fan 9. Mr. Big posted: 08.18.2007 - 2:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anybody remember how the 13 car crash happened? 10. The Great Dave posted: 10.31.2009 - 11:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A couple of the Sponsors listed are incorrect. #77 Bruce Bechtel should have Lucas Oil not Moy Racing #44 Mike Harmon should have First Flight Centennial not GIC Contractors #22 Regan Smith Should have Harvey Hotel / Colorfast not Harvey Hotel 11. joey2448 posted: 11.09.2010 - 10:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) here's the video to the big pile-up.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqs0GlweMl4 also, bruce bechtel took a hard hit to the inside wall on the backstretch late in the race, here's the video to that crash.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qshtxXpGnZ8 12. Evan posted: 11.20.2011 - 12:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The NASCAR debut of David Ruetimann who Darrell Waltrip saw in this race(he was broadcasting it.) Liked him a lot and signed him to drove for his Truck Team and he won at Nashville. 13. Anonymous posted: 01.19.2012 - 8:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was actually Joe Aramendia's 2nd BUSCH start,the first was Rockingham 14. 44andJoe posted: 12.28.2012 - 3:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #88 owner: Joe Nemechek 15. CBASS posted: 01.07.2014 - 10:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #16 31-W Insulation/ Waterloo Tool Storage #0 Racing with Jesus/ Eagle Jet #5 CarQuest/ GMAC Financial Services #59 Kingsford Match Light 16. Evan W. posted: 04.27.2014 - 11:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nevermind, Reutimann made his debut at the spring 2002 Richmond Busch race. This was the first race he ran up near the front. 17. FloridaFan88 posted: 02.02.2015 - 11:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Qualifying Speeds 1. #57 Jason Keller Ford 187.474 28.804 2. #60 Stanton Barrett Ford 186.916 28.890 3. #25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford 186.793 28.909 4. #10 Scott Riggs Ford 186.657 28.930 5. #5 Brian Vickers Chevrolet 186.471 28.959 6. #92 Todd Bodine Chevrolet 186.053 29.024 7. #87 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 185.746 29.072 8. #20 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 185.720 29.076 9. #88 David Reutimann Chevrolet 185.478 29.114 10. #7 Randy LaJoie Chevrolet 185.319 29.139 11. #17 Matt Kenseth Ford 185.236 29.152 12. #33 Tony Raines Chevrolet 185.065 29.179 13. #99 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet 185.058 29.180 14. #1 Jamie McMurray Dodge 184.938 29.199 15. #12 Kerry Earnhardt Chevrolet 184.925 29.201 16. #46 Ashton Lewis Chevrolet 184.792 29.222 17. #82 Jimmy Spencer Chevrolet 184.559 29.259 18. #4 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 184.426 29.280 19. #26 Kevin Grubb Dodge 184.281 29.303 20. #38 Kasey Kahne Ford 184.150 29.324 21. #23 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 183.805 29.379 22. #59 Stacy Compton Chevrolet 183.605 29.411 23. #37 David Green Pontiac 183.467 29.433 24. #18 Coy Gibbs Chevrolet 182.883 29.527 25. #48 Shane Hmiel Chevrolet 182.809 29.539 26. #21 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 182.242 29.631 27. #2 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 181.678 29.723 28. #22 Regan Smith Chevrolet 181.561 29.742 29. #19 Chad Blount Dodge 181.537 29.746 30. #90 Lance Norick Dodge 181.537 29.746 31. #30 Steadman Marlin Dodge 181.513 29.750 32. #6 Damon Lusk Dodge 180.862 29.857 33. #16 Larry Gunselman Chevrolet 180.312 29.948 34. #27 Chase Montgomery Pontiac 180.307 29.949 35. #54 Hermie Sadler Chevrolet 179.545 30.076 36. #0 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 178.832 30.196 37. #00 Troy Cline Pontiac 178.595 30.236 (DNQ-2) 38. #77 Bruce Bechtel Ford 176.667 30.566 (Provisional-1) 39. #44 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 175.993 30.683 (Provisional-4) 40. #73 Jason Schuler Ford 174.278 30.985 (Provisional-3) 41. #85 Robby Benton Chevrolet 174.014 31.032 (DNQ-1) 42. #52 Donnie Neuenberger Ford 173.561 31.113 (Provisional-6) 43. #49 Chris Bingham Ford 169.956 31.773 (Provisional-2) 44. #79 Joe Aramendia Chevrolet No Time (Provisional-5) 45. #91 Andy Belmont Pontiac No Time (Provisional-7) 18. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 08.05.2016 - 3:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Update #52 97.1 Eagle Rocks 19. Evan posted: 09.03.2016 - 11:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors #2 Ron Hornaday AC-Delco/God Bless America #21 Johnny Sauter Pay Day/God Bless America #25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. U.S. Marines/Support The Troops Both RCR cars and their Cup teams had the slogan on the rear decklid as well as on the trunk for the race in support of the troops. Hamilton Jr. had a similar slogan on his car to show patriotism. 20. Geese posted: 05.15.2018 - 1:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Chad Blount's only Xfinity series top 5. 21. Brandon posted: 03.27.2020 - 1:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 00 Troy Cline car was a Chevy. After he DNQed the 79 team bought the car as they wrecked their only car in qualifying 22. rm posted: 05.09.2020 - 12:39 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 90 owner - Dave Carroll 17 crew chief - Robbie Reiser 37 crew chief - Jason Ratcliff (same for all 2003) 87 crew chief - Eric Phillips 88 crew chief - Brian Pattie No splitter, no problem, right? Not so on this day, as a bewildered Robbie Reiser reported to Matt Kenseth that his driver picked up some serious damage to the front valence when Kenseth avoided a crash by ducking down through the grass instead and hit the pit commitment cone. The team fixed the nose and got Kenseth to the lead, where he would stay for 60 laps total on the day. Larry Gunselman's miserable 2003 season continued with his third consecutive crashout, his fourth crash DNF of the year in just six races. Gunselman was in the beginning stages of what might be one of the worst Busch Series seasons of the era, failing to finish exactly half of the 34 races and crashing out nine times. Gunselman had 20 finishes outside of the top 30, and finishing 2 laps down at Talladega the next time out would be the closest he would get to the lead lap all year. There were several very hard crashes in this race, with the Texas track taking no prisoners. Bruce Bechtel's hit on the backstretch was especially nasty, cracking the inside wall and forcing a red flag period so repairs could be made. Bechtel also hit so hard that one of the tires came completely off of the wheel. While not necessarily an uncommon turn of events when a car gets a flat tire, the FOX booth remarked that they had never seen that happen when the cause of the accident wasn't tire-related. Todd Bodine may have entered this race as the points leader, but the unsponsored Herzog team was struggling to make it to the track every week all the same. It was an all-hands-on-deck effort, with even the crew chief having to go over the wall, and the whole crew really couldn't afford for the unexpected to happen. So when the jackman had his foot run over by another car while Bodine was making a pit stop under caution, he had little choice other than to keep going, run around to the other side of the car, and finish changing all four tires with the rest of the crew. The grit paid off as Bodine won the race off pit road - then the jackman raced to the infield care center to get checked out & treated before the next pit stop. Jimmie Johnson was a guest in the Hollywood Hotel alongside Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond for the first half of this race, cheering on Hendrick development driver Brian Vickers as well as Todd Bodine, driving for the Herzog team that Johnson had spent several years with. Jimmie had to leave just after halfway, as he had a personal commitment to attend to: he was going out to dinner to meet his girlfriend Chandra's parents for the first time! Of course, he was subject to some good-natured ribbing from Hammond & Myers. Clearly everything went according to plan for Jimmie, as he and Chandra married the next year. 23. Rich posted: 12.25.2020 - 6:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Dr. Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum and Jeanne Zelasko were the pit road reporters. Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond were in the Hollywood hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: