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  *Comments on the 2004 Race 1:*
  View the most recent comment <#7> | Post a comment <#post>


  1.   mk17ce99 posted:
  02.06.2007 - 7:55 pm
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According to Jeff Burton he thought Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch should
have been put to the back for how they raced in the final laps, which
would mean Kenseth could have had a shot at winning so that would have
been cool.


  2.   RaceFanX posted:
  04.25.2009 - 6:26 pm
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First race for Crown Royal as series sponsor.
This race was almost cancelled due to lack of a series sponsor before
the liquor company stepped up.

Also the first race for the "diecast-friendly" solid white with
driver-specific color highlights' IROC race cars, replacing the famous
multi-color solid ones.

IROC also introduced a new numbering system, basically giving drivers
their regular numbers from their respective series with some exceptions.
With the new system the #3 was retired to honor Dale Earnhardt, thus
Helio having to use #03.

First IROC races for Matt Kenseth, Scott Dixon, J.J. Yeley and Travis
Kvapil.


  3.   RaceFanX posted:
  09.03.2011 - 1:32 am
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Ryan Newman scores his only IROC win.

In case anyone is curious here were the highlight colors used by each
IROC car in 2006, all cars were mainly white with the highlight color
the same for every race designed to somewhat match the driver's regular
race cars...
#12 Ryan Newman- Light Blue
#97 Kurt Busch- Purple
#17 Matt Kenseth- Yellow
#48 Jimmie Johnson- Blue
#11 Steve Kinser- Green
#03 Helio Castroneves- Orange-Red
#29 Kevin Harvick- Black
#1 Scott Dixon- Light Red
#8 Scott Sharp- Pink
#24 Travis Kvapil- Light Purple
#80 J.J. Yeley- Teal
#20 Danny Lasoski- Orange


  4.   RaceFanX posted:
  09.03.2011 - 1:32 am
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*in 2004


  5.   RaceFanX posted:
  01.27.2018 - 12:36 pm
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There was some serious consideration given to inviting a NHRA driver to
take part in the 2004 IROC season with both funny car racer Ron Capps
and top fuel dragster racer Doug Kalitta testing IROC cars at
Chicagoland Speedway in 2003. Both drivers had prior oval experience,
Capps raced dirt as a hobby and Kalitta was a USAC Sprint Car champion
who also had ARCA experience, but ultimately neither driver would be
invited to be a part of the full IROC season.


  6.   RaceFanX posted:
  01.27.2018 - 12:58 pm
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By 2004 it was traditional that the NASCAR Busch Series champion always
received an invitation to compete in IROC and that was planned to happen
again in 2004. The series' new sponsorship from Crown Royal though would
torpedo that plan as reigning Busch series champion Brian Vickers was
only 20 years old at the time, one year too young to drink alcohol
according to US laws, and had to decline his invitation as such. At the
time Vickers said IROC was looking to invite him back again once he was
of age but that never happened and he would never compete in the series.

The Crown Royal sponsorship deal that saved the series came together
very late in the game, only about a month before this race, leaving the
IROC series scrambling to finalize its plans for a new year that almost
didn't happen. The delay in finalizing the series schedule led to the
end of its race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the series'
traditional Daytona opener would ultimately be joined by three new races
at Texas, Richmond, and Atlanta for 2004.

Before Crown Royal was announced as IROC's new sponsor there were also
rumors that firearm manufacturer Smith & Wesson was interested in taking
on the role. One wonders how that would have played out; my money says
we either would never hear a race referred to as a "shootout" again or
we would hear it called that WAY too often.


  7.   Rich posted:
  09.17.2020 - 1:58 pm
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Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond were the commentators. Matt
Yocum was the sole pit road reporter.


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