|| *Comments on the 2004 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400:* View the most recent comment <#34> | Post a comment <#post> 1. CD posted: 10.31.2004 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (5) (2) Poor Jeff Gordon! 2. HomeDepotKid posted: 01.17.2005 - 5:37 am Rate this comment: (8) (0) Aah yes. Tony Stewart gets impatient and punts Andy Hillenburg. Jeff Gordon is in the wrong place at the wrong time and driver-doors Hillenburg. Gordon had nowhere to go, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But had Tony not have punted Andy(Yeah. I'm a Tony fan. So?), Gordon would have done well that day. 3. gojunyer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! posted: 10.10.2005 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (17) those slow guys cant drive. morgen shephard andy bellmont andy hilenberg they should get baned because there so slow so what if they dont have good equipment that just shows there stoopid and dont belong GO JUNYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4. SPENCER posted: 11.09.2005 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (9) (0) YO those damn guys need to make a living to you know!! 5. dalejrfan14 posted: 03.02.2006 - 8:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) hey at least that anonymous guy wasnt nagging about junior.he rules. 6. smoke20ri posted: 04.11.2006 - 3:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) They may need to make a living but slow cars like that can be dangerous to all the other drivers. 7. mcmurrayfan posted: 06.15.2006 - 3:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I say let the slow cars drive on the apron or out of the groove, then no one gets hurt. 8. Miller4Prez64 posted: 07.15.2006 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie Johnson wins the last March Darlington race, too bad Bobby didn't win it. 9. most posted: 01.31.2007 - 12:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) I miss the days of "back markers" Hum, do Junior fans hate Darlington? Heck yeah they do, JR. sucks there. ANywhere Jr. is bad should be shut down according to them! So the schedule if made by a Jr. fan would be: Daytona Talladega Richmond Talladega Talladega Talladega Daytona Richmond..... you get the point, they DONT!! 10. Darrell posted: 02.03.2007 - 12:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Speaking of backmarkers, Derrike Cope was having an awesome run but was slowed by pit problems. 11. hamlinfan posted: 06.23.2007 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 100th race at this historic racetrack and i wish for 100 more 12. DieselDan posted: 11.03.2007 - 2:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The spring race wasn't always in March. I spent a few April afternoons the weekend after the Master for the Rebel, later TranSouth, 500 13. BurtonRuddFan posted: 11.27.2007 - 1:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) This is a sad day in NASCAR. 8 field fillers attempting this race. Too bad Johnson beat Labonte to the line. This would be the last 400-mile March race at Darlington. 14. Mark O. posted: 12.16.2007 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (4) (2) "GO JUNYER", you're an idiot. Before calling someone else "stupid", perhaps you should pass second grade spelling. Then research the sport some. Until then, get lost. 15. Clayton posted: 03.21.2008 - 7:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) These Guys like Morgan Shepherd were "field Fillers" NASCAR paid these drivers to come down because they promised FOX and NBC that there would be 43 cars. Don't blame them, blame NASCAR! By the way, "Most" you are so right! lol! 16. Anonymous posted: 03.18.2009 - 9:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Wow! How about Derrike Cope qualifying fifth! This was by far his best run of 2004. 17. Larry posted: 10.29.2009 - 11:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Labonte clearly had the best car at the end. Should have won it, could have won it but figured it was better to finish then have both him and Jimmie wreck racing for the win. 18. Jon H posted: 01.27.2010 - 6:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Robby Gordon's best Darlington finish as of 2009. 19. blaneyfan66 posted: 04.15.2010 - 6:57 pm Rate this comment: (6) (1) Stewart could've gone anywhere else put into the back of Hillenburg. Wasn't Andy's fault, as King Gordon states in his scriptures. 20. Andre posted: 10.04.2010 - 2:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I remember this weekend well, but not all for good reasons. Bobby Labonte led some of the later stages of the race, but Johnson and the 48 beat him out of the pits by a nose to claim the lead. Labonte was never able to pass him back... It was also the day after Scott Fraser, a racing great from my part of Canada, was killed in a snowmobiling accident. The guy had some ASA starts and Top 10's under his belt already, and really had a shot with the big boys, and rumors were flying around as to where he'd be racing in the next couple years. Now, while I'm still hopeful that we'll have a NASCAR star from the Maritime provinces some day, I can't help but look back at the career that might have been. Rest in peace, Scott. 21. sk posted: 08.02.2011 - 3:47 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) first race for bob osborne as crew chief of the #99, after paul andrews parted ways with the roush camp. osborne had been jack's lead engineer and had never crew chiefed for anyone, even in busch, but fortuitously stuck with the team long enough to hit it off with burton's replacement that summer. 22. Daniel posted: 05.24.2012 - 12:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #94 Stanton Barrett Out using fastest 43: #15 Michael Waltrip 23. CBASS posted: 01.18.2013 - 7:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #30 AOL #16 Travelodge #89 Racing with Jesus/ Voyles Equipment Co. #5 Got Milk?/ Kellogg's #49 Schwan's #15 NAPA Auto Parts #45 Brawny #25 ditech.com/ GMAC #02 SPS/ Continental Fire & Safety #98 Lucas Oil http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/cgi/images.php?group=w0405 http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/photos/main-gallery/?y=2004&s=5&dl=a&r=1330 24. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 11.25.2014 - 7:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Update #89 Racing with Jesus/ Voyles Equipment Co. (Same for all the races with Voyles / Carter's Royal Dispos-All) http://cdn-5.motorsport.com/static/img/mgl/100000/140000/144000/144800/144855/s8/nascar-cup-darlington-2004-morgan-shepherd.jpg 25. NASCARLover22 posted: 08.22.2015 - 11:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates: #16 Travelodge #89 Racing with Jesus/Voyles Equipment Co. #02 SPS/Continental Fire & Safety #5 Got Milk?/Kellogg's #99 Hot Wheels/SKF #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker/Chex 26. AD posted: 02.08.2017 - 11:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) JJ win #7. First at Darlington. 27. Scott25 posted: 03.11.2018 - 10:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I was at this race and don't remember anything whatsoever, other than the Hillenburg/Gordon incident and Kahne spinning at some point, and Johnson winning. , I gusss I wasn't paying attention, since I don't remember it being a semi-close race, don't remember Derrike Cope having one of his best races and don't remember Jeff Burton driving a Hot Wheels scheme. 28. Johnny posted: 06.06.2019 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Oddly, Elliott Sadler loses 2 positions in the standings despite finishing in the top 5. 29. rm posted: 04.03.2020 - 7:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) From the broadcast: 09 crew chief - Jon Wolfe 4 crew chief - Tim Brewer 89 crew chief - Bill Shaw 98 crew chief - Chris Edwards Probably on the heels of their qualifying run, Derrike Cope & his team got an Arnold Development in-car cam for the race. Mike Joy said that he thought the deal was brought about by the controversy Cope had when running the RedneckJunk.com sponsored car a couple weeks earlier, with the site seeing record traffic after word spread that NASCAR made the team peel the decals off the car. This was the 50 team's season highlight, by far. They rarely showed speed anywhere close to this, and by the time the season ended they were either starting & parking or crashing out early on. Three Indiana openwheelers go into turn one...and only one comes out on the other side. If it sounds like a bad joke, well, that might be because quite a few fans of the era felt that the so-called "field fillers" were a joke (see: the first few comments way up above). After Joe Ruttman was parked at Rockingham (the same race where Carl Long took flight) and Andy Hillenburg was t-boned by Jeff Gordon here - courtesy of Tony Stewart - the tail end of the pack did not have a particularly stellar reputation. Among cries from fans for NASCAR to enforce a minimum speed rule (they did, with Kirk Shelmerdine being parked in this very race) and accusations that NASCAR called up & paid off these teams to enter races (which was false), the field fillers quickly (heh) became one of the hot-button issues of the early 2004 season. 30. Foote posted: 04.05.2020 - 12:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was early in the season, so the Hillenburg/Gordon crash was pinned on Hillenburg even though Tony Stewart decided to intentionally wreck him on lap 25. Stewart ran out of mulligans as the season went on however. He was a wild man in 2004 and got into it with other drivers and even Darrell Waltrip in the Fox booth. 31. Sam posted: 05.07.2020 - 7:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Spring Darlington 400 mile race is back on the schedule and Jimmie Johnson is the defending champ of the 400 mile race. 32. Ryan posted: 05.07.2020 - 8:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Any explanation as to how Cope qualified so well for this race? In the other 17 starts he made in 2004, his best start as a dismal 34th. 33. Caleb posted: 05.07.2020 - 9:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The clip from qualifying is on YouTube as Cope briefly held the pole. You can see in the video he was literally going all out. Held the car high through the corners, which isn't easy to do at Darlington. The Don Arnold Dodges actually had decent power, just not a lot of reliability over the course of the race. Looked like they might actually have something reasonable brewing before Arnold pulled the plug. Seemed like he was looking for instant success, and never got close to what he was building with Cope with the string of drivers he tried out after. 34. Rich posted: 12.17.2020 - 7:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Dr. Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes and Matt Yocum 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: