|| *Comments on the 2003 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500:* View the most recent comment <#35> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Anonymous posted: 12.15.2004 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) wow, jr spun ryan newman 2. Anonymous posted: 12.19.2004 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) He didn't spin Newman. What happened was Dale Jr. got close enough to Newman's bumper he could've bump-drafted him. When Dale Jr. got close to him, he took the air off Newman's spoiler, Newman couldn't control his car and crashed. 3. Mike D posted: 08.31.2005 - 2:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) No, Jr spun Newman. It wasn't on purpose, but he did spin him. When you're at speeds like that a slight touch could spin someone out. So while it was an accident, Jr DID indeed spin out Ryan. 4. dalejrfan15 posted: 06.19.2006 - 11:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) whos shelby hownard 5. Anonymous posted: 06.21.2006 - 5:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) wow 6. Miller4Prez64 posted: 07.15.2006 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This race was rained out on Sunday and ran Monday, this would be the last race on Monday until March 2006 at Atlanta again, Jeff Gordon after going 22 races without a win goes back to back and this is Gordon's last 1.5 mile track win until his conterversial win at Chicagoland in 2006. 7. Steve posted: 08.29.2006 - 4:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Shelby Howard now races in the Hooters Pro Cup Series Northern Division, where he has 2 or 3 wins. 2 years ago he drove for Bill Davis Racing in the Truck Series, but he was released in July due to (lack of) performance. Before then he was a star in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. 8. Burton posted: 03.06.2007 - 6:07 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Attended this race in person. Drove over from Birmingham and sat in the cold, cold rain all day Sunday. Called in sick for work on Monday so we could stay and see the race. 9. anonymous posted: 05.23.2007 - 7:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Jr did spin Ryan, a very stupid move which cost Ryan a shot at a top 3 position in points, even though 6 other DNFs didn't help matters either 10. john posted: 09.06.2007 - 2:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmy Spencer's last Top 10 in Cup 11. RaceFanX posted: 01.03.2008 - 11:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) So long old friend... On the day of this race, Pontiac announced the company would be withdrawing from NASCAR at the end of the 2003 season. 12. Anonymous posted: 05.21.2008 - 1:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The end of Bobby Labonte's Atlanta dominance. Since this race, he doesn't even have a top 10 at the track. Who would have guessed? 13. Art D posted: 02.28.2010 - 3:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 64th career win for J. Gordon, and his 14th career multi-win streak. 14. ams391221 posted: 03.09.2010 - 6:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was at school and my recorder wouldn't work so I was glad to hear Jeff Gordon won. I wish I could'vr seen it live. 15. 18fan posted: 06.22.2010 - 12:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Both Atlanta races in 2003 were called the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. 16. RaceFanX posted: 07.23.2011 - 4:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors: #40 Sterling Marlin- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital / Coors Light #30 Steve Park- GM Card / America Online #97 Kurt Busch- Rubbermaid / Sharpie / BRUTE #77 Dave Blaney- Jasper Engines & Transmissions / Lipton Sides 17. AlmirolaFan88 posted: 08.14.2011 - 3:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) If I didn't come to this page I would have had no idea Shelby Howard attempted to qualify for a Cup race. 18. RaceFanX posted: 04.13.2012 - 9:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #9 Bill Elliott- Dodge Dealers / UAW / Winston Cup Victory Lap Awesome Bill from Dawsonville got his chance to be honored by the Winston' Victory Lap program in this race in front of his home state fans. Million Dollar Bill promptly used his special red with silver look to finish in the top-5 for the Georgia crowd, one of the best runs for the Victory Lap cars. 19. Daniel posted: 05.24.2012 - 10:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #00 Buckshot Jones & #43 Jeff Green Out using fastest 43: #17 Matt Kenseth & #21 Ricky Rudd 20. Ed posted: 10.26.2012 - 10:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brian Vickers qualifies 4th in his 2nd start but succumbs to overheating problems early and finishes dead last. 21. CBASS posted: 01.17.2013 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #00 Aaron's Sales & Lease #30 GM Card/ AOL #12 Mobil 1 Speedpass #35 Wawa/ Marines #17 Smirnoff Ice Triple Black #9 Winston Cup Victory Lap/ Dodge #37 Paramount Hospitality Management #21 U.S. Air Force #40 St. Jude's Childrens Research Hospital #97 Rubbermaid Brute/ Sharpie #0 NetZero Hi-Speed #38 M&M's Passion #15 NAPA Auto Parts #7 Sirius #45 GP/ Brawny http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/cgi/images.php?group=w0334 22. Teren posted: 01.24.2013 - 2:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Way to go #24! 23. Terry Maynard posted: 05.03.2013 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe the date for the race should be October 27 and not the 28th. 24. Nelson (9fan, 24hater) posted: 10.22.2013 - 8:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Since Aric Almirola is changing from the #43 to the #41 for Martinsville, it will be exactly 10 years to the day the last time the #43 wasn't in a Cup race. 25. Anthony posted: 03.25.2014 - 9:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ward Burton was docked 25 points and crew chief Tony Furr fined $25,000 for unapproved carburetor modification (to the venturi) during opening-day inspection. Gene Hass the owner of the car was docked 25 owners points as well. 26. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 08.03.2014 - 11:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew 50 TBA Harrah's Dodge A J Foyt 89 Morgan Shepherd Racing For Jesus/Red Line Oil Morgan Shepherd Ford https://web.archive.org/web/20031206211801/http://www.nascar.com/races/wc/2003/33/data/entry_list.html https://web.archive.org/web/20031026005228/http://www.nascar.com/races/wc/2003/33/data/practice1_speeds.html 27. M posted: 09.18.2018 - 12:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon's last win of the Winston Cup era. 28. TeamDCRfan posted: 02.27.2019 - 1:27 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Ken Schrader was filmed sleeping in his car during qualifying. It was quite funny 29. 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. 30. Mile501 posted: 11.19.2020 - 1:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was notable during an era when NASCAR's officiating was becoming more confusing, primarily due to the still-new rule that prohibited racing back to the caution. The fourth caution came out in the middle of a cycle of green-flag pit stops, where about 10 cars had not yet pitted. Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick were just coming off pit road when the caution came out. They slowed down (as drivers were supposed to do), and were initially passed by leader Kurt Busch. Once NASCAR reviewed that, they allowed Gordon and Harvick to pass the pace car and get back on the lead lap. At the same time, NASCAR told the #7 team that they would get the free pass, so Tommy Baldwin called Jimmy Spencer in to pit. Then, NASCAR ended up awarding the free pass to Bill Elliott. Baldwin was furious with NASCAR, because he pitted an extra time and put his car in the back when he otherwise would have been the first car on the tail end of the lead lap. Kurt Busch was then penalized to the tail end of the line for not slowing down quickly enough, even though he claimed that he slowed down as soon as he saw the caution lights. That prompted crew chief Jimmy Fennig to be angry at NASCAR for the second week in a row (he was also angry the week before after some confusion regarding when pit road would be open during a caution at Martinsville). After 10 laps of caution, NASCAR finally had the field sorted out, in spite of ongoing complaints from at least two crew chiefs. Eventually, most of those issues worked themselves out. Kurt Busch recovered to finish 8th. Jimmy Spencer would get the free pass on the next caution and go on to finish 9th, the last top 10 finish for both he and for owner Jim Smith. This would turn out to be just a small preview of the trouble that a caution coming out in the midst of green-flag pit stops could cause in this new era of not racing back to the caution. NASCAR would face much bigger problems the next spring at Dover. 31. Mile501 posted: 11.19.2020 - 1:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To add more context to comment #20, Brian Vickers looked strong early on after starting 4th but was part of a chain-reaction stack-up on the first restart. Vickers damaged his radiator when he got into the back of Bill Elliott. He continued for another 12 laps but eventually overheated and pulled it into the garage. 32. JSPorts posted: 11.19.2020 - 1:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not racing back to the caution is probably the right call for safety, but it can complicate things. Especially with NASCAR's gimmicky free-pass rule, sorting things out quickly can be difficult and it ended up burning the #7 team here. 33. possum posted: 11.19.2020 - 6:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @32 - that's debatable. NASCAR existed for half a century with racing back to the caution, with no problems. And the susposed cause of the rule, Dale Jarrett being stalled crosswise on the track with cars racing around him, is notable in that none of those cars hit him. Indeed, since the rule we've had any number of incidents of cars being stalled crosswise to the track, even on nearly blind corners like turn 1 at Watkins Glen, with cars racing around them because the yellow was slow to come out, and none of them were hit either. The need for pit road speed limits was made clear by several injuries and deaths. The need to not race back to the caution is a lot less clear. 34. Rich posted: 11.29.2020 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first, last and only race of 2003 to be postponed to another day to run and the second time in four years which saw this race run on Monday thanks to rain from Sunday. 35. BadBooking posted: 11.29.2020 - 11:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #9 Ryan was 27th in the points going into the Coca Cola 600 that year. Usually drivers that are that far down the points don't recover that great but Newman certainly made the most of it. #33 there were murmurs starting in the 90s about whether or not racing to the flag or not should be abolished. Not so much because of the danger, but the "Gentlemen's Agreement" was regularly going astray. Many drivers were starting to complain about protocol, but nothing came of it until the utter appalling display of numerous near-wrecks that led NASCAR to be proactive than reactive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: