|| *Comments on the 2003 Banquet 400 Presented by ConAgra Foods:* View the most recent comment <#26> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jake Kane posted: 04.12.2005 - 5:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) another fuel milage race 2. mcmurrayfan posted: 06.16.2006 - 4:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 100th top 10 finish for Tony Stewart. 3. Miller4Prez64 posted: 07.15.2006 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Newman wins on fuel mileage again, for his 8th win of 2003, but he would have only 2 wins in 2004, and 1 win in 2005. 4. Anonymous posted: 07.25.2007 - 11:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ed Rensi gets a top 15 in his first of 2 starts as a NASCAR Winston Cup owner. 5. pacman posted: 12.30.2009 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Whatever 6. Schroeder51 posted: 12.18.2011 - 12:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Elliott and Mayfield were both driving cars co-sponsored by The Lion King. 7. Daniel posted: 05.24.2012 - 10:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #4 Johnny Sauter & #14 Larry Foyt Out using fastest 43: #22 Ward Burton & #37 Derrike Cope 8. RaceFanX posted: 07.07.2012 - 4:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #40 Sterling Marlin- Coors Light Twins / Scary Movie 3 (The twins were part of a musical ad campaign Coors Light was running at the time, they make a brief cameo in the spoof film also advertised on Sterling's silver and black car for this race) Jimmie Johnson won the pole for this race but didn't geto enjoy it as a practice crash forced him to a backup car and starting at the back of the field. Mike Skinner qualified on the outside pole with a brown camouflage paint job. 9. CBASS posted: 01.17.2013 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #9/19 Dodge/ The Lion King: Special Edition #40 Coors Light/ Scary Movie 3 #45 Georgia-Pacific/ Brawny #21 Motorcraft Quality Parts #7 Sirius #49 Blue Ox Racing #97 Rubbermaid/ Sharpie #15 NAPA Auto Parts #0 NetZero Hi-Speed http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/cgi/images.php?group=w0331 10. JG77 posted: 09.03.2014 - 2:47 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) Ive hated Ryan Newman ever since this race ... How in the world could he go that far on one tank of fuel? Bill Elliott should have won this race. He got screwed. Its amazing that ever since this year of 03' where Newman won 8 races (half of those on fuel mileage luck), he's hardly done crap except win a race here and there. 11. typo posted: 10.12.2015 - 7:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 2nd takes home more money than 1st? 12. Maverick posted: 10.19.2016 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At this point in the season, the top 3 in points only had 1 win apiece. 13. Maverick19 posted: 12.18.2016 - 11:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kurt Busch had a spectacular engine failure in this race. After blowing up and catching fire, the fire actually spread inside the driver's compartment which was all captured by an in-car camera. Fortunately, Busch was uninjured. 14. Henry posted: 05.04.2017 - 2:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill Elliott would've won the race if he saved but choose to keep going till running out near 20 to go. He got fuel and caught up but he ran out allowing Newman to win the race This was the only time that dodge would win at Kansas in the cup series as Bill took home more money than 1st place 15. Henry posted: 05.04.2017 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeremey Mayfield and Bill Elliott had the same paint schemes and finished 2nd and 3rd and the same owner and same manufacturer. 16. Sandy posted: 09.06.2018 - 6:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ward Burton's Best Career Kansas Finish In his 4 Kansas Starts (5 attempts) Failed To Make His 5th Kansas Attempt in 2007 17. Anthony posted: 11.26.2018 - 6:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Newman pulled out the classic Penske fuel mileage 18. Matt posted: 02.24.2019 - 10:28 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) One of NASCAR on NBC's ways of communicating with the fans in 2003 was the "Cingular Wireless Poll", where you texted the answer to their poll question. Interestingly, only fans with Cingular Wireless cell phones could participate. This race's poll question was "What is your opinion on races decided on pit strategy & track position?" A-- Love Them (33%) B-- Not Crazy About Them (40%) C-- Doesn't Matter (27%) 19. Matt posted: 02.24.2019 - 10:56 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was actually the only race where NASCAR held 2 Cingular Wireless polls. The other question was "If you could make 1 change to the points system, what would it be?" A-- More Points To The Winner (35%) B-- More Points For Leading Most Laps (19%) C-- Bonus Points To The Pole Winner (18%) D-- Nothing (28%) 20. rm posted: 03.31.2020 - 7:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Hamilton Jr. rallied from being 2 laps down barely 50 laps into the race to finish in the top 15 and on the lead lap. No help from the newfangled lucky dog, either! Somewhat of a consolation prize after the Busch race from the day before ended poorly. On a track that was as hard to pass at as early Kansas was, this represented a good opportunity for smaller teams to score a good finish if they good find a way to get the track position. Jason Leffler was one of those hopefuls, having qualified in the top 10 and staying out to get the lead briefly. Leffler was looking to get the team's first top ten, but he ran out of gas under green and went 3 laps down. On top of shooting themselves in the foot, the team got burned by a caution coming out just a couple laps later for Jeff Green's crash. From the realm of the unusual - Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Johnny Benson collided when Earnhardt was coming around to get his lap back under the sixth caution. Benson was cleaning his tires and swerved up the track while Earnhardt was going past the field on the high side. Benson had to pit from fourth place and eventually crashed out late, while Earnhardt drove back up to 18th. 21. Rich posted: 08.06.2020 - 11:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach. The pit road reporters were Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider and Dave Burns. 22. Mile501 posted: 11.06.2020 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Johnny Benson, the #43 of Jeff Green, and the #0 of Jason Leffler all had strong, much-needed top 10 runs going during the first half of this race, but none of them had anything to show for it at the end. Green got shuffled back during pit stop cycles and later had a flat tire. Leffler ran out of gas and had to pit just before the caution flag came out for Green's tire debris. And Benson had that incident under caution as described in comment #20, then he ended up crashing late in the race. 23. JSPorts posted: 11.06.2020 - 3:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) I miss the days where teams like that could have legitimate top-10 runs. The #10, #43 & #0 teams were 24th, 41st & 37th in the owner points standings, respectively, in 2003. Can you imagine the Richard Petty Motorsports #43, B.J. McLeod Motorsports #78 & MBM Motorsports #66 all having legit top-10 runs at Kansas in 2020 (these teams are 24th, 41st & 37th currently.) 24. Mile501 posted: 11.06.2020 - 3:35 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) @23 - I miss those days, too. That's part of the reason why I've enjoyed watching old races. I started with 2001 and I'm close to finishing 2003 now. I doubt I'll continue past that point, aside from a few in 2004 like Rockingham. ----- One more tidbit from this race - a comment that was shown during the race broadcast that is rather interesting considering all the changes that have taken place in NASCAR since this time: "We've gotta balance out putting entertainment value into it and actual racing value, and to me, by putting that out there where you get your lap back when the caution comes out, I think that we're leaning too much toward the entertainment side and not enough towards the actual racing." - Jeff Gordon 25. Steve posted: 11.06.2020 - 4:26 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) @23 The popularity NASCAR enjoyed is why those teams could run so well. The 43 (Cheerio's/General Mills), 10 (Valvoline), and the 0 (NetZero) were all sponsored by easily identifiable consumer brands. The ROI was worth sponsoring a Winston Cup car, even a team that was around 40th in points. A team with a good driver could still run in the Top 10 on a $3-5 million budget, a sum that won't even get you to the track today. The cars weren't sealed to the road like they are today, and therefore they were prone to sliding around, so a drivers' seat of the pants feel was much more important then than it is now. 26. KentuckyOffroadRider posted: 11.06.2020 - 7:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hey Mile501 (or whoever you are). Couple great races worth watching all the way through from a few years previously are the 2000 Winston 500, 1999 Daytona 500 and the 1993 Diehard 500. And one of the prolly most underrated races Is the 1993 Save Mart Supermarkets 300 at Series Point. Check ?em out and thank me later ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: