|| *Comments on the 2003 Pop-Secret Microwave Popcorn 400:* View the most recent comment <#35> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. tquievryn posted: 01.02.2005 - 6:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Matt Kenseth clinched the last Cup championship with Winston as title sponsor, after making up a lap when trapped on a mid-race pit stop. Bill Elliot's car had to start at the end of the field because of an engine change, but he dominated anyway, a win that will probably go down as his last (as of the end of 2004) 2. Heather posted: 02.08.2005 - 7:01 pm Rate this comment: (11) (0) I attended this race. Never crossed my mind that I was seeing a lot of "last" things: Bill Elliot's last win, the last fall race at Rockingham (and second-to-last Cup race held there, what a shame!) and the last Winston Cup trophy handed out. 3. Jon posted: 05.17.2005 - 11:02 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) This was such an ironic win in Elliott's career. For all you Bill Elliott fans out there, if this so happens to be his last career win, where did Bill make his first career NASCAR start at? Thats right! North Carolina in 1976. I'll miss you Bill. 4. HomeDepot20TS posted: 06.05.2005 - 1:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bill not only came to the front after starting last, he got dropped to the rear of the field (I've forgotten exactly why) and charged his way back to the front again. Great run for Tony Raines and BACE Motorsports. 5. Darrell posted: 10.21.2005 - 10:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One more "last" Heather. The last race the #71 Marcis Auto Racing car attempted. 6. KK38 posted: 10.29.2005 - 5:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill dropped to the back because of engine change. 7. HomeDepot20TS posted: 03.06.2006 - 8:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) He also got dropped back midway through the race. Loose lugs or something, but he stormed back like it was nothing. 8. Dalejrfan14 posted: 03.24.2006 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) a fifth place finish would lock up the champ but he wanted to make sure 9. Miller4Prez64 posted: 07.31.2006 - 1:38 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Tony Raines's only Cup Series top 10 to date. 7/30/06. 10. tommy posted: 01.28.2007 - 10:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Great run for Raines in an underfunded car. 11. Brock posted: 02.10.2007 - 7:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) An unsponsored car no less. I sure hope Tony Raines can make something happen with Hall of Fame. 12. Mr. Big posted: 09.08.2007 - 5:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Heck of a run for Tony Raines, one of his two top 10's. Matt Kenseth clinches the championship with this race, and Awesome Bill claims his final (most likely) victory. Jeff Gordon was black flagged around Lap 90 for spinning out Ryan Newman, and what I might not have mentioned is Elliott came from dead last to win after changing an engine. 13. Clayton posted: 04.11.2008 - 7:43 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) What a day to be an Awesome Bill fan!! He proved to everyone that he was still excellent at the end of his career. No one saw him comming early on in his career and no one could have predicted he would have won 4 races with Evernham (almost 5 wins!) This is probley going to be his last win and I remember it like it was yesterday! It was perfect. 14. Mark O posted: 04.24.2008 - 12:03 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Schrader had a great run going (top 8) until Newman stuffed him in the fence with less than 20 to go. 15. Anonymous posted: 11.22.2008 - 11:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tony Raines scored two more Cup top 10s after this in the 96 car, a 7th at Charlotte in October 2006 and a 9th at Talladega in October 2007. But this is still his best finish. 16. Roger posted: 07.13.2010 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) What a day from worst to first and smoking Jimmie Johnson to do it...For me this was one of Elliott's best races and the last time he was really in contention minus the Coke 600 in '05... 17. Evan posted: 12.20.2010 - 12:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A weird rough driving call by NASCAR for Jeff Gordon where he and Ryan Newman(who was running a Mark Donohue Matador scheme to commemorate that first win) where Gordon wrecked him. Kenseth clinched his championship with all of family in Wisconsin watching. The last race at North Carolina under the Winston banner. 18. Roger posted: 02.04.2011 - 10:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What a great way for Bill to win his last race so far. (I believe in Hendrick equipment he will be able to compete in 2011) It was fun watching him come through the field and teach Johnson what racing was all about as he blew by him. It was fun to watch Awesome run that day...to bad they don't go to Rockingham any more... 19. RaceFanX posted: 04.13.2012 - 6:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors: #12 Ryan Newman- Alltel / Penske Racing 50th Win #2 Rusty Wallace- Miller Lite / Penske Racing 50th Win #18 Bobby Labonte- Interstate Batteries / Winston Cup Victory Lap The Winston Cup Victory Lap honored two drivers at this race. In addition to Bobby Labonte it was Benny Parsons who got a chance to lead the field on its pace laps in his #72 Chevrolet. Ryan Newman sat on the pole with and raced an AMC Matador-style red, white and blue throwback paint scheme on his #12 Dodge in this race. Roger Penske's team was celebrating having scored 50 wins and ran the old American Motors colors because that's what he was fielding when he got his first win at Riverside in 1973 with the legendary Mark Donohue driving. Rusty Wallace also ran a gold-and-black look on his Dodge for the occasion. Newman recovered from a spin in the first 100 laps to finish in the top-5. 20. Daniel posted: 05.24.2012 - 10:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) In using fastest 43: #02 Hermie Sadler Out using fastest 43: #37 Derrike Cope 21. Tyler (fourturns.blogspot.com) posted: 09.01.2012 - 1:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Ah, I remember this race even though I was 13 when this race first happened. My grandmother (God rest her soul) was a humongous Bill Elliott fan and had been since the mid-80s and when I started watching NASCAR when I was 4 in 1994, she taught me about Bill, his nickname (Awesome Bill), his Winston Million win at Darlington, his 1988 Cup title, his own team and so on. Soon, Bill would become my favorite driver and still is to this day. I remember watching this race with my grandmother and we were so happy to see Bill take home the checkered flag for the final time. It's a shame that Bill could never win in his No.94 self-owned McDonalds machine, as he was phenomenal in the No. 9 for Ray Evernham -- Four wins, almost five if it weren't for that blown tire at Homestead on the final lap. Bill should definitely be in the Hall of Fame -- especially of Rusty Wallace is in it. 22. Ed posted: 10.26.2012 - 10:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Bogus rough driving call on Gordon. Newman deserved to get spun out, he body-slammed Jeff three times coming down the front straightaway, and Jeff made sure that Newman didn't hit anything when he delivered the payback. And not to mention that the damage Newman did to Jeff's car affected the handling of his car, making it a non-factor in the first place. NASCAR just overreacted in a situation where it wasn't necessary. 23. CBASS posted: 01.17.2013 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #45 Victory Junction Hands in Victory/ Brawny #41 Target House/ Target #0 NetZero Hi-Speed #37 Paramount Hospitality Management http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/cgi/images.php?group=w0336 24. Biscuits In A Red Bull posted: 03.05.2013 - 2:25 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Raines' best career finish in 6th. 25. myself posted: 06.05.2013 - 11:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I sure would like to see some pics of these Winston Cup Victory Lap cars. 26. kidracer posted: 12.19.2013 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Didn't Raines car have a sponsor like Sponsor me Here! or something like that? 27. Anthony posted: 06.22.2016 - 8:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) I wonder what Bill would think if he saw Rockingham in the state it is now. 28. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 09.02.2016 - 8:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates: #45 Victory Junction "Hands in Victory"/Dixie/Brawny #0 NetZero Hi Speed #4 Kodak EasyShare #37 Paramount Hospitality Management #15 NAPA Auto Parts #6 Pfizer/Viagra #43 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 29. ACM88 posted: 02.22.2018 - 3:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Undoubtfully tony Raines' best race yet in the cup series 30. RaceFanX posted: 04.12.2019 - 8:52 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) This would indeed turn out to be Bill Elliott's 44th and final NASCAR Winston Cup victory (although boy was he close to #45 at Homestead). Awesome Bill from Dawsonville's move to Ray Everham's new Dodge factory effort in 2001 paid off with four victories during his three years racing full time for them. This was Elliott's only win of 2003 and his fourth at Rockingham, the last one having come more than 11 years earlier when he was still driving Junior Johnson's #11 car. 31. JG77 posted: 07.17.2019 - 6:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ This really should have been the 2nd of 3 wins for Bill Elliott in 2003. The Banquet 400 at Kansas a few weeks prior to this race, Bill had such a dominant car and was pretty much wiping his butt with the field, and the only reason Bill didn't win it, was because of Ryan Newman's damn fuel mileage gamble ... in which, the "gas gambling" that Newman did that year, it got him at least half of his 8 wins in 2003. And of course, the following week at Homestead. Once again, Bill DOMINATED the race, and a cut tire on the last lap cost him that win. I was so mad and upset after that race, along with the Kansas race ... but this race here at North Carolina kinda made up for it. 32. Anonymous posted: 04.29.2020 - 1:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I had said the 2003 Spring Rockingham race would air May 10th while we wait for racing to return its this race that will air I wonder why is it because Matt Kenseth is returning and they wanted to show his championship clinching race which would be the last time until this year a track not named Homestead had the championship clinching race. It would also be the last time a Future Hall of famer would win a race. 33. SweetRich posted: 07.20.2020 - 1:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach. The pit road reporters were Matt Yocum, Dave Burns, Bill Weber and Marty Snider. 34. Mile501 posted: 11.24.2020 - 1:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "What I'm gonna feel like if I can help Matt Kenseth win a championship is relief, because I've been there many years with Jeff Burton, and of course several times we've been close with Mark Martin. I haven't been able to do for them what they needed, and there's great sadness that goes with that. You know, Mark has been close, and if he'd been with a different owner, with stronger politics and with more experience or better judgment, I think the outcome may have been different for Mark." - Jack Roush in an interview prior to this race 35. Mile501 posted: 11.24.2020 - 1:51 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I would like to correct comment #1 about 16 years later. Matt Kenseth never fell a lap down in this race. He was headed onto pit road when Mark Martin's engine blew, but Kenseth swerved back onto the track. He was penalized (because he had crossed the commitment line, which was still a new rule at the time) and sent to the tail end of the line for the restart, but it was still a smart decision because he stayed on the lead lap. A number of other drivers, though, were burned by pitting just before a caution came out, which happened 3 separate times during this race. That's how drivers like Ward Burton (who was extremely fast early on and led 30 laps), Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and others ended up 2-3 laps down. Of all the drivers who got trapped 1 or more laps down when Martin's engine blew, only Sterling Marlin was able to earn his lap back the hard way. Tony Raines had not pitted when the caution came out for Mark Martin's blown engine, which helped him get a good finish. Ken Schrader was in the same position, on track for his best finish of the year, until Ryan Newman knocked him into the wall while trying to drive back to the front after having to pit a second time for loose lugnuts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: