|| *Comments on the 2004 Chevy Rock and Roll 400:* View the most recent comment <#56> | Post a comment <#post> 1. STbastien posted: 09.12.2004 - 3:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What a hell ! Bobby Labonte lost all his title chances... 2. STbastien posted: 09.24.2004 - 4:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Turn on your brain, Robby !!! 3. Anonymous posted: 10.14.2004 - 2:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Another snoozefest. Before this race,can you recall a fuel milage race at Richmond? Me neither. 4. HomeDepotKid posted: 10.26.2004 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (1) (4) Um, Sebastien, can I please remind you of something? ROBBY GORDON HAS NO BRAIN! 5. CD posted: 10.31.2004 - 4:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Congrts to Jeremy for wining and congrats to Kurt Busch for running out of fuel. And once again Chevy dosen't win this race! 6. Jake posted: 11.14.2004 - 1:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) I can't believe what NASCAR did to Jamie McMurray. They penalize him 25 points just because of a freakin' WINDOW. He missed the Chase for the Championship by 15 points. Had NASCAR not been braindead and have their heads up their asses, Jamie probably could've had a shot to be a NEXTEL Cup Champion. This is NASCAR not politics, but apparently Brian France ain't got no brains to figure that out. 7. Mike M. posted: 11.17.2004 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Although the penalty kept him out of the chase, his team is also kind of at fault. They had alot of engine failures, if just ONE didnt expire the 25 points wouldnt have been an issue. 8. Anonymous posted: 02.24.2005 - 5:59 pm Rate this comment: (5) (2) Mike Bliss and Mike Wallace both had great runs that were ignored by the telecast. 9. Brian posted: 03.14.2005 - 12:08 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) Yes its a shame. But what do you expect? its all about the chase, now. It really is sad that such good runs by them are not even mentioned. 10. Steve posted: 02.06.2006 - 10:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) Um, HomeDepotKid, can I please remind you of something? If there is any driver that does not take advantage of having a brain, it's the one who finished 8th in this race! 11. mcmurrayfan posted: 06.15.2006 - 3:27 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) Bobby Hamilton Jr. had a good run in 11th. Interesting that Mike Wallace led more laps than Dale Jr. or Jeff Gordon, which probably had never happened before and probably never will again. 12. biffle16 posted: 01.01.2007 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Uh, Steve, if he doesn't have a brain, how would he finish in the top ten at a tough track like Richmond? I certainly didn't see Robby Gordon come in the top ten! 13. MegaRacer posted: 04.05.2007 - 1:19 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Busch Series team Brewco has their one and only start in the Cup series at this race. 14. Mr. Big posted: 09.20.2007 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bobby Labonte went from 4th in points to 12th in 8 races after Fatback was fired. 15. Mike posted: 11.08.2007 - 3:59 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) Phoenix, fall '01. Wallace led 45 laps, neither Gordon nor Junior led at all that day. Richmond, fall '02. Wallace leads one lap, which is one more than either the #8 or the #24. 16. Harvick29 posted: 02.16.2008 - 1:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) I Think This Is the Last Race For David Green In The cup Series. 17. Anonymous posted: 06.07.2008 - 4:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeremy Mayfield ended a four year losing streak in this race 18. RaceFanX posted: 08.01.2008 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Mike Bliss' best career Cup finish to date. It came in a what was basically a one-off for Joe Gibbs Racing (they ran Chicago earlier in the year) 19. anonymous posted: 03.17.2010 - 2:34 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) how did mike bliss ever finish 4th in this race? I remember watching this race on tv, but I dont recall TNT ever showing mike during this race 20. Anonymous posted: 06.01.2010 - 3:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) i cant get over how bad johnson runs at this track. he has a 17th place avg finish here. one of his worst tracks and that includes 3 wins. I LOVE RICHMOND! HA HA HA 21. blaneyfan66 posted: 07.04.2010 - 5:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Where's Joe Laracuente when you need him? I'll back up for him. HAIL KIRK SHELMERDINE HEY GOT 41ST !!! 22. RaceFanX posted: 05.08.2012 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sponsors: #30 Jeff Burton- America Online / Big & Rich #21 Ricky Rudd- U.S. Air Force Let's Roll / Motorcraft #29 Kevin Harvick- GM Goodwrench / KISS This race set the grid for the first chase and there was a ton of drama as to who would make it... Jeremy Mayfield makes a miracle rally to make the Chase. Mayfield came in 14th in points but led the most laps on the way to victory and sealed a solid spot in the Chase in the process. Mark Martin was on the Chase bubble coming in and spun in a mid-race incident but recovered to finish in the top-5 and make the Chase. Meanwhile Bobby Labonte and Jamie McMurray came up short on thier chase bids. IIRC McMurray was the real heartbreaker as I think he ran well before getting involved in an incident only to rally for a top-10 but still end up just 15 points short (at the time just three to five positions). 23. Daniel posted: 05.24.2012 - 12:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #33 Johnny Sauter, #37 Kevin Lepage, #51 Tony Raines Out using fastest 43: #50 Todd Bodine, #72 Kirk Shelmerdine, #98 Derrike Cope 24. CBASS posted: 01.18.2013 - 2:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #21 Air Force- "Let's Roll" #16 National Guard #25 ditech.com/ GMAC #15 NAPA Auto Parts #30 Big & Rich/ AOL #43 Pilsbury Grands! #80 Hunts/ Van Camp's #97 IRWIN Industrial Tools #0 NetZero http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/cgi/images.php?group=w0428 25. Anonymous posted: 02.08.2013 - 10:12 am Rate this comment: (1) (3) Spencer causes a melee,typical. 26. Anonymous posted: 07.03.2013 - 9:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Didnt Jr run a Dave Matthews Band Scheme for this race? Or was that at Fontana? 27. numbah10hatah posted: 12.01.2013 - 12:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Webmaster, it says that the lucky dog for one of the cautions was #00, but the #00 is on the DNQ list. 28. SpiderTre posted: 01.25.2014 - 6:48 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 2nd win for the #19 Cup car and the first in 45 years when John Rostek won in Phoenix in 1960 29. Rusty posted: 04.05.2014 - 3:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Mike Bliss' only career top 5 in Cup. 30. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2014 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Steve Addington makes his Crew Cheifing career in this race with Mike Bliss. 31. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 07.30.2014 - 7:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew Mike Garvey 75 Jani-King Randall Haefele Dodge Chief Crew Barry Haefele 32. NASCARLover22 posted: 08.24.2015 - 7:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates: #80 Hunt's/Van Camp's #21 Air Force-"Let's Roll" #43 Pillsbury Grands!/Cheerios #98 Mach I Racing #0 NetZero #97 Irwin Industrial Tools #5 Got Milk?/Kellogg's #18 Wellbutrin XL/Interstate Batteries #72 Kirk Shelmerdine Racing #51 Great Value Food Stores/Marathon #77 Kodak Easy Share #10 Valvoline/Eagle One 33. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 01.17.2016 - 6:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Update #08 Commercial Truck & Trailer 34. Braindead Zombie posted: 04.12.2016 - 11:36 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) What an awesome race. Mayfield with one of the all-time clutch moments in modern NASCAR. Unfortunately it wouldn't translate to anything during the chase. Mike Bliss finishes fourth in a part-time R&D Gibbs car. Mike Wallace finishes seventh and leads 45 laps for Phoenix Racing. Bobby Hamilton Jr. with a career best eleventh. Only bad part of this race was Jimmy Spencer causing a huge wreck in front of the whole field because Jimmy Spencer. 35. Anthony posted: 09.15.2016 - 7:23 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) The cautions at lap 143 and 158 were absolutely ridiculous. At 143, Edwards got out of the groove and barely touched the wall and they threw a caution. At 158, they wanted to clean up the marbles on the outside groove. 36. JSPorts posted: 09.15.2016 - 8:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) It's things like this that make other racing fans around the world sick of NASCAR. We don't need cautions for crap like that. They just think it makes the racing more exciting, when what it really does is make it more contrived. 37. Anthony posted: 09.21.2016 - 8:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The racing was far superior compared to that of the early COT years in particular, but the silly cautions were sill prevalent. 38. SK posted: 01.30.2019 - 10:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bliss had a quick car, making his way up to around 15th after the halfway point of the race, but benefitted strongly from staying out late on the last green flag pit sequence to run 2nd when Jimmy Spencer spun to bring out the final caution. Bliss was fast off pit road and restarted right where he came in, and while a few cars would pass him for position after green flag racing resumed, Mike more or less held his ground. Really a remarkable performance for Bliss and his then-Busch Series crew chief, Steve Addington, who would help claim many trophies at the top level of NASCAR but had never crew chiefed in a single Cup race before this one. 39. JollyMeanGiant posted: 05.13.2019 - 5:34 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Junior admitted years later on his radio show that the contact between he and Kasey Kahne in this race that sent Kasey spinning was intentional, but that he only intended to bump and move him out of the way, not spin him. 40. Minnowfur posted: 09.11.2019 - 11:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Crazy 15 years ago the first chase field 41. rm posted: 04.07.2020 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) From the broadcast: 23 crew chief - Chris Rice 45 crew chief - Bill Henderson 50 sponsor - The Orleans Shane Hmiel ran into the back of Casey Mears on pit road...when they were getting ready to pull onto the track and take the pace laps. Yep. For the fourth straight Richmond race, Robby Gordon was the first driver in trouble. Robby and the opening laps at Richmond really did not get along well there for a couple years. Kyle Petty was not too thrilled when he was turned by Kirk Shelmerdine's start-and-park ride barely 10 laps into the race. Not sure if he was more frustrated at the actual spin or at the fact that he and Shelmerdine were battling for 42nd when the accident occurred. The high points for Kyle & Petty Enterprises as a whole were few & far between during this time, and that might be being a little nice. Mike Wallace got the lead by staying out during pit stops and kept the lead because it was extremely difficult to pass on the track. Jeremy Mayfield took fuel only but was also clearly the faster car compared to Wallace, pulling alongside with ease, but was unable to make a pass on the inside line. Similarly, the first car with tires was 3rd-place Jeff Gordon and he too couldn't make a pass on either driver. Bobby Hamilton Jr. went a lap down early but got the jump on Wallace on the restart and was able to pull away from Wallace & the field by several seconds pretty quickly. Hamilton (like Wallace) had a fast enough car himself, recovering to finish 11th, but the circumstances of this bizarre portion of the race should speak for themselves regarding how a car like Wallace's was able to run out front. Mayfield eventually snuck by and Wallace proceeded to plummet through the field before finally making his first pit stop of the night. Contrary to what some of the earlier comments would have you believe, Wallace received plenty of airtime and was not overlooked by the TNT crew at all. Wallace and Mike Bliss wound up in the top ten at race's end when Jimmy Spencer wrecked in the middle of green flag pit stops, having remained on the track at that point. With so few cars on the lead lap and no more yellows, they were all but assured of strong finishes as long as they didn't wreck. Bliss had been running outside the top 20 most of the night, and he put on a heck of a drive to come home 4th, behind arguably the three best cars all night (save for Kurt Busch). Busch stayed out under that caution and eventually had to pit, with Bliss being the first car that pit for fuel and four tires, leaving him in a somewhat similar situation that Mike Wallace had been in earlier in the race. The second Carl Edwards-related caution was suspicious, to say the least. Race control apparently instructed the track cleanup crew to pick up a screwdriver on the track that they believed had fallen off of the #99 car. Skeptical of those exact origins, or if the screwdriver really existed, but I feel like that's too oddly specific to completely fabricate. The leadup to the first Chase couldn't have gotten much more exciting from NASCAR's perspective, with the 8th-15th spots in points changing almost constantly in the weeks leading up to Richmond - and then again throughout this race. Longtime points leader Jimmie Johnson's stretch of misfortune even opened up the possibility of the 400-point rule being enacted, but from memory this was the only year it was even close to coming into effect. In 2003 at Richmond, Kenseth's lead over second place was over 400 points while in 2002 there were 12 drivers within that margin after this race. I'm sure they did their research before arriving at that number as their cutoff, but most years the number of drivers within 400 points by this time of the season was far closer to 2003's one than 2002's twelve. 42. Conor posted: 05.03.2020 - 7:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) Don't remember this race. How did Mike Bliss get a top 5? 43. JSPorts posted: 05.03.2020 - 9:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) He was driving a Gibbs car. Bliss really only had 4 starts in competitive equipment in his Cup career (1 CGR, 3 JGR). This would be the last. I have to wonder what he could've done in good equipment. He was obviously a talented driver, with 13 Truck wins (+ a championship), along with 2 Xfinity wins (+5 top-10 points finishes.) Certainly didn't help him that he was a Cup rookie at 35, though, and was 39 by the time he picked up this top-5. 44. Ryan posted: 05.03.2020 - 10:06 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @42 Read @41, gives a good explanation. I was actually at this race. This was the last race before the first ever "playoffs" in NASCAR. It was fun throughout the race with all the scenarios changing who would be in and who would be out. My biggest takeaways from being there were the fans went absolutely crazy when Kurt Busch had to stop for fuel with a few laps to go and that it took FOREVER to get out of Richmond that night. Also, a hot dog was $5 in 2004. NASCAR priced itself out on everything. You don't normally see a fuel mileage race at Richmond because of how much the tires fall and the fact that it's a short track which results in close racing and more contact, but this race was. I've talked to others that have gone to a race there and they have said they didn't have much issues leaving the track. It probably didn't help that we got there late and I got one of the worst parking spots. It remains my first and last trip to Richmond. 45. Foote posted: 05.03.2020 - 1:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @43 Not to mention his IROC success. I'll always think Bliss had massive, Cup-star level talent but not the charisma or appeal to big car owners. 46. wisconsinracefan posted: 05.03.2020 - 4:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The problem with Mike Bliss in cup is take a look at the teams he raced for back in 2000 as a rookie cup driver. I didn't recall Foyt fielding a full time cup team before 2000 and I didn't recall they attempting a cup race after 1996 before 2000. To top it off, there was no limit on amount of teams one organization can have at the time. I know Foyt almost won the Southern 500 by rain in 2000 with Rick Mast. Mike went Eel River Racing in 2000 after Foyt with Rick Fuller gone from that ride. The problem with that team Jack Birmingham back Chuck Rider's team during the 1999 season. The problem is Jack bought a team the went from 11th in points in 1997 with Johnny Benson as a driver to a team that was struggling mightily with Derrike Cope as a driver. 47. RyanM posted: 05.03.2020 - 5:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) His best full-time cup opportunity was the Haas #0 in 2005, in which he had probably the best season anyone ever had for that team before Stewart bought half ownership. Should've been in a full Gibbs car instead of Leffler or Yeley. 48. Anthony2 posted: 07.02.2020 - 9:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 2nd race televised in high definition. 49. SweetRich posted: 07.09.2020 - 12:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first, last and only career NASCAR Cup Series race for owner Clarence Brewer, the owner of Brewco Motorsports. 50. Rich posted: 11.24.2020 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach were the commentators. Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider and Dave Burns were the pit road reporters. 51. Mile501 posted: 12.11.2020 - 12:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Given the unusual nature of the spring 2004 Dover race, I wanted to calculate how the battle for the final few chase spots in this race might have been impacted by Newman missing pit road around lap 320 at Dover, and the chaos that followed. The following calculations show how the points would have looked based on the running order around lap 300 in the spring Dover race, prior to all of the chaos. (I have posted that running order in the comments for the Dover race.) Points Before Richmond (Based on Dover's lap 300 running order): 3142 Newman (+119) 3137 Kahne (+114) 3026 Mayfield (+3) ---- 3023 Martin (-3) 3018 McMurray (-8) 3004 Labonte (-22) 2991 Jarrett (-35) 2989 Harvick (-37) Points After Richmond (Based on Dover's lap 300 running order): 3250 Newman (+72) 3228 Kahne (+50) 3216 Mayfield (+38) ---- 3178 Martin (-38) 3156 McMurray (-60) 3119 Labonte (-97) 3116 Harvick (-100) 3076 Jarrett (-140) 52. Mile501 posted: 01.05.2021 - 1:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Comments from Jimmie Johnson after getting caught up in a wreck just before the halfway point. It is interesting to go back and see his thoughts on the then-new chase format, before he won all 7 of his championships under this and other similar formats. It is especially interesting to ponder the circumstances of how he won his 7th championship with this quote in mind. "This is the way this point system works. You've got desperate guys doing desperate things. You know, this can happen at Homestead, and that's the one thing I don't like about this point system is that you can have somebody acting like this and take you completely out of a championship. And we put too much hard work and effort into this to have something stupid like this happen." 53. Foote posted: 01.05.2021 - 4:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How about Mike Bliss is this race with a top 5 in a part time R and D car? I'll always believe Bliss had the talent of a 10+ race winner in Cup and maybe even a Greg Biffle like career. But his problem is that he was a 0/10 from a personality/marketability standpoint, so top teams didn't want to give him top Cup rides. 54. JSPorts posted: 01.05.2021 - 4:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bliss' biggest problem was not his personality at all, it was his age. He was 30 when he first ran full-time in the Truck Series in '95. By the time he got this start, he was 39. 10 years prior, that wouldn't have been much of an issue, but with all the under-30 drivers coming up from '99 to this point, Bliss didn't fit the mold. Biffle was really the only 30+ rookie who had staying power from that time period, and he was 33 when he got that Cup ride. 55. Foote posted: 01.05.2021 - 8:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 54 I can't counter that. I've always been fascinated by JGR rejecting Bliss and hiring Jason Leffler instead, and how that changed Nascar history because Leffler's incompetence opened the door for Hamlin. JGR was already familiar with Leffler, he drove a full Busch season (and was awful) for JGR in 2000. There are zero explanations for JGR hiring Leffler over Bliss for the new 11 project in 2005, but their poor choice paved the way for Hamlin's Cup rise. 56. Anonymous posted: 01.05.2021 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @55 Of course, they also hired Yeley in 2006 when they could have hired Bliss then. Yeley's incompetence then led to the team hiring Kyle Busch. The rest, as they say, is history. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: