Random Recap: The 2004 Daytona 500
Welcome to Random Recaps, a weekly feature at From The Marbles. In this space, we’ll recap a random race from the past at the track the where Sprint Cup Series is racing next. This week’s race is the 2004 Daytona 500. And as always, Random Recap is truly random thanks to Random.org.
The final laps of the Daytona 500 came down to a one-on-one battle between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart. Junior won out.
The son of NASCAR’s seven-time champion got his first Daytona 500 win by beating the 2002 Winston Cup champion.
Junior took the lead from Stewart for the last 20 laps and while Stewart was able to make multiple charges, sometimes with an assist from Kurt Busch, a lapped car, he wasn’t able to clear Junior, who had a gap of nearly three-tenths of a second at the finish.
The race turned into a heads up battle over the last laps because the final rounds of pit stops came under green flag conditions. The last 120 laps of the race didn’t have a caution flag. So as teams pitted multiple times over the race’s final 60 percent, the field kept getting more and more strung out. When Junior and Stewart emerged from pit road the final time they only had Scott Wimmer in the vicinity.
It’s not a stretch to say the two best cars were battling for the win. Stewart, whose machine was repaired for the race after a practice crash, led 98 laps while Junior, who started on the pole by virtue of Greg Biffle’s engine change, led 58. No other driver led more than 16.
The race’s final caution flag came out on lap 71 when the big one struck. 12 cars, including 2003 winner Michael Waltrip, were involved in a crash on the backstretch after Waltrip and Brian Vickers made contact coming off turn 2.
The win is the 10th of Junior’s career.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
