|| *Comments on the 2004 MBNA America 400 "A Salute To Heroes":* View the most recent comment <#52> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Jake posted: 06.08.2004 - 1:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Craziest race ever. It was the "D-Day 400" in my opinion. Man, a 19 car pileup, Kasey crashing hard, it was wild!!! By the way, it wasn't Michael Waltrip's fault for that 19 car wreck. Dave Blaney cut him off and then all hell broke loose!!! 2. HomeDepotKid posted: 10.26.2004 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't think it was really anyone's fault for the 19-car crash, in retrospect. It was just a racing deal. Both Waltrip and Blaney were going for the same piece of real estate, and it's the classic off-kilter way to cause a crash. It was great to see Mark Martin win, though. 3. CD posted: 10.31.2004 - 3:47 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) congrats to Mark but Kasey could have won it if NASCAR could have thrown the caution earlier. Stupid NASCAR! 4. Joe C posted: 12.04.2004 - 7:19 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) This race will be remembered as being the one that proved that a bag of wet rocks could do a better job running a race than the current crew of idiots that run NASCAR. I'm very glad that Mark won though. That was excellent. 5. Anonymous posted: 02.13.2005 - 4:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I agree, you can't blame anyone for that big crash in this one. Michael was going low and Blaney was heading up and up, although I think maybe if Blaney had been a bit more 'cautious' that all might've been adverted. 6. Brian posted: 02.26.2005 - 10:37 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) What a wild race. Massive crash. Poor Kasey kahne had the race won and spins in oil! Great win for Mark. 7. Mr. Etc posted: 05.19.2005 - 7:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 1st race I've ever been to...holy crap. Both pileups happened right in front of me...absolutely crazy 8. Joe Laracuente posted: 06.05.2005 - 7:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) HAIL KIRK SHELMERDINE HEY FINISHED 39TH 9. MASH_guy posted: 06.06.2005 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A classic case of "Last man standing wins". It was nice to see MArk Win, but honestly, he probably wasn't going to finish in the top-5 before the big pile-up. But that's why races are settled on the track and not in the wind tunnel, so to speak. 10. Steve posted: 07.05.2006 - 7:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Awesome day for rookie Scott Riggs, who was on his way to a 15th-20th place finish before all the carnage. His reward for avoiding all the wrecks was his first Top 5 finish. This will most likely be Scott Wimmer's last Top 10 in Cup racing, unless he can get a ride with a better team than the struggling Bill Davis Racing and Morgan-McClure Motorsports. Jimmy Spencer's 17th place finish was his best of 2004. 11. Brock posted: 01.18.2007 - 6:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I thought Jeremy Mayfield was gonna score this one; he and JJ were right up there when that crash happened. Same thing with Dave Blaney in that 23 car, one of a few great runs he had in that after his surprising Bud Shootout performance. 12. biffle16 posted: 03.03.2007 - 6:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They might as well have called this race "Dodgeball". 13. nascarcrazy24 posted: 05.28.2007 - 5:02 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Had there not been the "lucky dog" rule, there would've been only one car on the lead lap. 14. DNQ List posted: 06.30.2007 - 3:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've got to feel for Stanton Barrett; 20th place in qual but doesn't make it three miles. 15. Mr. Big posted: 09.22.2007 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Enormous 19 car crash on Lap 347. Sterling Marlin bounced off of Jamie McMurray's car and almost went on his side. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApDRx0T1a_g Above is a video of the wreck and I don't know if Mikey bounced off the wall and that caused the Big One or what. First time I had ever seen a Big One anywhere other than Charlotte, Talladega, or Daytona. 16. Clayton posted: 05.27.2008 - 11:13 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) I was at this race and sitting in turn 3. So I watched this accident in turn 3, the 19 car pile up. Where I was sitting, it looked like Blaney got a little aggresive. and started the wreck. Kasey Kahne was running great. NASCAR, believe it or not, throws a yellow when Rusty Wallace just barley knicked the wall. Sitting in turn 3 I see no debris, I mean the truck doesn't even come on the track to pick up the debris. I had no idea why the caution was thrown. Then I saw the 8 car getting his lap back. Man was I pissed. Jr fans cheered like he earned that lap back! My behind!! So Kahne is the leader and a little while later, Casey Mears's oil line goes. Right in front of me. I see the oil on the track, you can see the different shades of concreate. I thought for sure NASCAR was going to throw a yellow!! NOPE!! Kahne, the leader, spun and backed into the turn 4 fence. I was so pissed at NASCAR. They now just ruined the race. I met Kahne at a Gander Mountain in PA, and asked him about this accident. He said he went to Brian France and complained. NASCAR appoligized, not knowing that Mears left oil on the track! My theroy, they just threw a yellow for Jr and they didn't want to throw another one so quick because of a boring race. NASCAR screwed Kahne. I was happy Mark Martin won it though! My second favorite driver won,(bill elliott being the first). But I am mad NASCAR screwed this race up. Because it could have been interesting! 17. Clayton posted: 05.27.2008 - 11:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Matt Kenseth did some sick driving to miss the BIG ONE!! IDK how the hell he missed Blaney! 18. hyltonfan60 posted: 02.09.2009 - 5:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Morgan Shepherd's sponsor was Chesapeake Mobile Homes. 19. jr88fan posted: 08.14.2009 - 10:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) HAIL KIRK SHELMERDINE HEY FINISHED 39TH Joe Laracuente | Email | Homepage | 06.05.05 - 7:10 pm Why are you cheering for a Non-driver a.k.a start and parker? 20. blaneyfan66 posted: 04.15.2010 - 7:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not just saying this, but how is this Blaney's fault? I didn't get a great angle, but it looked like Wimmer and Waltrip closed the door. 21. Jocke Persson posted: 11.23.2010 - 10:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why did Jeff Burton drive an unsponsored car? 22. Alex posted: 01.14.2012 - 7:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ Because Roush didn't have a full-time sponsor for the 99 that year.. and he ended up at RCR. 23. Daniel posted: 05.24.2012 - 12:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #02 Hermie Sadler & #37 Todd Bodine Out using fastest 43: #16 Greg Biffle & #72 Kirk Shelmerdine 24. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 09.30.2012 - 5:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last race that less than 10 cars finish on the lead lap until the 2012 AAA 400. 25. CBASS posted: 01.18.2013 - 7:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #21 Genuine Ford Parts & Service #15 NAPA Auto Parts http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/cgi/images.php?group=w0415 26. 83andJoe posted: 02.26.2013 - 2:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was intended to be Kevin Ray's debut in Cup competition in Junie Donlavey's #90; the team failed to pass inspection and didn't have time to fix the car before qualifying. 27. RedChevy14 posted: 08.15.2013 - 4:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What a mess. Newman wrecking getting on pit road during a cycle of stops got everything all screwed up, took NASCAR over 20 laps of caution to get it figured out. They go green again finally and all hell breaks loose. It was almost funny. 28. Mike posted: 06.05.2014 - 10:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kirk Shelmerdine became the first driver ever to get three lucky dogs in the same race in this one. 29. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 07.28.2014 - 10:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) A Bunch of Withdrew 00 Carl Long Buyer's Choice Auto Warranties Raynard McGlynn Chevrolet 7 Dave Blaney Ultra Motorsports James Smith Dodge 35 Kenny Hendrick Gary Keller Racing Gary Keller Chevrolet 52 Stan Boyd Ware Racing Enterprises Rick Ware Dodge 90 Kevin Ray Boudreaux's Butt Paste/RacingUSA.com Junie Donlavey Ford https://web.archive.org/web/20040602233700/http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2004/13/data/entry_list.html https://web.archive.org/web/20040803045046/http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2004/13/data/entry_list.html Three teams withdraw: Three drivers/teams withdrew as they couldn't get thru inspection: #90-Kevin Ray, #00-Carl Long, #52-Stan Boyd. So down to 46 drivers for 43 spots.(6-4-2004) 30. SoonersFan posted: 08.02.2014 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Johnny Sauter's last race in the 30 car. 31. 88&4Fan posted: 07.31.2015 - 2:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Possibly my favorite Dover race ever, its hard between this and the 2007 fall race, both were great. Another 2004 race where Kandy Kahne should've won but didn't. Mark Martin didn't have the best car but survived all the mayhem. 32. 88&4Fan posted: 08.07.2015 - 5:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also first career top five for Scott Riggs. 33. NASCARLover22 posted: 08.24.2015 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates: #97 Sharpie #5 Got Milk?/Kellogg's #77 Jasper/Kodak EasyShare #23 Ollie's Bargain Outlet/Whelen #50 GEICO/Arnold Development Co. #89 Chesapeake Mobile Home Sales/Voyles 34. SoonersFan posted: 03.26.2016 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Morgan Shepherd's car in the race was a backup car for Arnold Motorsports. 35. Maverick11 posted: 04.08.2016 - 11:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Last race that less than 10 cars finish on the lead lap until the 2012 AAA 400." The 2006 Dover 400 had 9 cars finish on the lead lap. Coincidentially, all of them happened at Dover. 36. Maverick11 posted: 04.08.2016 - 11:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually, the 2009 Dickies 500 had only 6 cars finish on the lead lap as well. 37. Braindead Zombie posted: 04.09.2016 - 9:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 2007 fall Dover race had six cars on the lead lap. What is it with Dover and single digit lead lap cars??? 38. JG77 posted: 05.03.2016 - 3:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) The first of many races where Kasey Kahne "should have" won, but instead would get screwed over ... this time by NASCAR. f**k NASCAR for screwing Kasey in this race! 39. Mr.Victory posted: 03.07.2018 - 3:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cars involved lap 346 wreck: 15, 29, 97, 48, 19, 40, 99, 2, 21, 0, 43, 12, 10, 17, 41, 23, 88, 5, 6, 42. 40. Evan posted: 03.07.2018 - 4:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Mark Martin was just able to avoid the oil that Casey Mears put down. Kasey Kahne ran somewhat of a higher line and lost control and spun in the oil which was in the racing groove. Martin ran just enough of a lower line to avoid the oil, a smart move on his part that won him the race. 41. RaceFanX posted: 05.09.2018 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Jeff Burton's first top-5 finish of the season...and it would prove to be his last behind the wheel of Jack Roush's #99 Ford before he left the team later in the season. 42. @Statscrash posted: 12.07.2018 - 1:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) How NASCAR thought there was no oil on the track I'll never know that car was out there blowing smoke all of the place for 3 laps. 43. Maverick19 posted: 09.09.2019 - 3:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) As if this race wasn't crazy enough, it turns out that there were THREE drivers that crashed out of the lead. Newman directly before the big one, Mayfield in the big one, and then Kahne spinning in the oil. Can't think of many times where that happened. 44. Anonymous posted: 10.27.2019 - 6:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) this race had the biggest non-superspeedway crash in a NASCAR Cup race since 1998 at Charlotte. and biggest in nascar aside from Daytona and Talladega since the last Xfinity race at Nashville in 2000 that had 17 of them. 45. rm posted: 03.21.2020 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #23 crew chief was Philippe Lopez for this race. While his Dodge with Blaney at the wheel gets a lot of attention for touching off the big wreck in this race as a lapped car - or an almost-lap down car, if you want to get technical - it had shown a good amount of speed for most of the race prior to that incident. 46. Ryan posted: 04.28.2020 - 3:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Finally found it! I knew there had been a Dover race that ran under caution for a pathetically long time in the early days of ?freezing the field.? I honestly remembered it as being 40 laps of caution trying to sort things out, but 25 laps isn't much better! 47. rm posted: 04.28.2020 - 5:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) With the caution coming back out half a lap later for the big wreck, it sure felt like 40 straight laps of caution. The ~half-season it took for them to get the lucky dog rule to what it is today had some painful moments in there at times. Based off of the TV broadcasts, the free pass rule was more unpopular at the time among teams & drivers than the Chase was. Didn't help that the certain aspects of the rule varied seemingly week to week and that the tower applied it inconsistently. Looking back through the comments, the language of the rule as we know it today went into effect the very next week at Pocono, and sure enough a lot of the protests from teams were resolved. 48. TheDewCrew posted: 08.04.2020 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Michael Waltrip crashed during qualifying for this race, when he lost control of his #15 NAPA Chevy in turn 2, and backed his car hard into the outside wall, forcing them to roll out the backup car, which managed a 6th place finish 49. Rich posted: 08.04.2020 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip. The pit road reporters were Dr. Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes and Matt Yocum. And in the Hollywood hotel were Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond. 50. Mile501 posted: 12.10.2020 - 12:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Ollie's Bargain Outlet sponsored the part-time #23 of Dave Blaney, their first time sponsoring a car in the Nextel Cup Series. At the time, Ollie's was a small, regional chain of 31 stores. Now, 25 years later, they have expanded greatly, with nearly 400 stores across more than half the country. Ollie's would later sponsor Dave Blaney for 4 races in 2012 in Tommy Baldwin's car. They also sponsored Aaron Fike for 11 Busch races in 2004, and they've had several other one-off sponsorships over the years. 51. Mile501 posted: 12.10.2020 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Running order around lap 300 (before Newman's crash, the crazy restart, and the big wreck): Lead Lap (1st-12th): 20 9 19 48 12 6 2 17 23 97 99 25 15 1 Lap Down (13th-20th): 8 29 5 16 40 88 42 2-3 Laps Down (21st-25th): 10 43 22 31 21 4-11 Laps Down (26th-30th): 31 21 0 32 4 38 30 30+ Laps Down or Out (31st-43rd): 18 41 77 50 49 24 45 01 72 09 51 89 94 I was curious if Newman's spin and the chaos that followed had any impact on which drivers would later qualify for the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup. For the most part, it did not. The only potential change is that Kahne likely would scored enough points to take a Chase spot instead of Martin. Kahne lost about 100 points to Martin in this race, compared to where they were running prior to the chaos. Let's note that Kahne, Newman, and Mayfield (to a lesser degree) all lost points due to Newman's crash and the subsequent chaos, while Martin, McMurray, Labonte, and Harvick, and Jarrett all ended up benefiting from the big crash in this race (by finishing better than where they were prior to the crash). In that scenario, Newman and Kahne would have entered Richmond still ranked 8th and 9th in points, but with a fairly comfortable margin ahead of 10th. Instead of watching a battle for 8th-15th, it would have been more like a battle for 10th-15th (keep in mind that Martin would have fewer points and Mayfield would have more, and Mayfield would have likely entered Richmond ranked 10th or 11th while Martin would have been a little further down). 52. Mile501 posted: 12.11.2020 - 11:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Correction to the previous comment: "31 21" should be removed from the 4-11 laps down group. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: