NASCAR: The Top-Five Clash At Daytona Finishes

2004 Budweiser Shootout

This was a hotly contested opening race for the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. There was some significance to this race because it was a major season of change for the Cup Series. Winston had left the sport with the movement towards removing cigarette companies from professional sports (strangely enough, beer remained, “Budweiser Shootout). This was the first season with Nextel as the title sponsor, which would merge with Sprint in 2007 to come to our current title sponsor. 2004 was also the first year of the Chase for the Cup, which was a success with Kurt Busch winning by the smallest of margins.

In terms of the race itself, it was a great race with 15 lead changes. A caution towards the end of the race set up a seven lap shootout for the checkered flag in the “Shootout.” On the final lap Dale Jarrett surged past Kevin Harvick heading into turn 1 and was able to hold off a fast charging Dale Earnhardt Jr, as cars collided behind them.

The race finish was somewhat controversial with the accident with Newman and McMurray. Due to the new rule that there would be no racing back to the caution flag, some fans thought that the race should’ve been called on the backstretch at the time of yellow. Ultimately the rules of this situation have always been a judgement call and have never been clarified (a la last year’s Daytona 500 finish).  All the while it was Jarrett’s third and final win in the Shootout.

Next: Countdown: Finish No. 4