2004 Ford 400
The 2004 Ford 400 was an NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race held on November 21, 2004 at Homestead Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) speedway, it was the 36th and final race of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. Greg Biffle won the race and Kurt Busch won the championship, both driving for Roush Racing.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 36 of 36 in the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season | |||
| Date | November 21, 2004 | ||
| Location | Homestead Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km) | ||
| Distance | 271 laps, 406.5 mi (654.198 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 267 laps, 400.5 mi (644.542 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures averaging about 73.3 °F (22.9 °C); wind speeds reaching up to 10.2 miles per hour (16.4 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 105.623 miles per hour (169.984 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Roush Racing | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Greg Biffle | Roush Racing | |
| Laps | 117 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | NBC | ||
| Announcers | Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, & Wally Dallenbach Jr. | ||
Background
Homestead-Miami Speedway is a motor racing track located in Homestead, Florida. The track, which has several configurations, has promoted several series of racing, including NASCAR, the IndyCar Series, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the Championship Cup Series.
Since 2002, Homestead-Miami Speedway has hosted the final race of the season in all three of NASCAR's series: the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Ford Motor Company sponsors all three of the season-ending races; the races have the names Ford 400, Ford 300 and Ford 200, respectively, and the weekend is marketed as Ford Championship Weekend.
Summary
This race was known as the deciding race of the 2004 Nextel Cup champion in the first ever Chase for the Nextel Cup, in which five drivers were still mathematically alive for the championship including the points leader, Kurt Busch with an 18-point margin ahead of Jimmie Johnson, who earned the most wins in 2004, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and veteran Mark Martin. Those five chasers are separated by an 82-point margin from first to fifth for the final race. At the start of lap 1, Hermie Sadler got turned sideways while Mike Bliss was spun around but Johnson survived the wreck in the following caution. On lap 93, championship leader Kurt Busch lost a tire when he entered pit road, he lost the championship lead to Jeff Gordon, though Busch took back the points lead. With 3 laps to go, race leader Ryan Newman made some contact and lost the right side of the tire, the caution was out and set a Green-white-checker finish at Homestead. At the restart, Greg Biffle held off the hard charging Hendrick teams of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon for the race lead and took the checkered flag to win the Ford 400, while Johnson and Gordon finished 2nd and 3rd. Kurt Busch won the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Championship by just 8 points over Johnson with a 5th-place finish after starting on the Pole and leading the opening 4 laps, the closest margin in Cup history until the 2011 season, won by Tony Stewart. Stewart and Carl Edwards were tied following the 2011 season's last race, the Cup going to Stewart by virtue of more wins on the season, 5 to 1 respectively.
Top 10 results
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Racing | Ford |
| 2 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 4 | 20 | Tony Stewart | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet |
| 5 | 97 | Kurt Busch | Roush Racing | Ford |
| 6 | 77 | Brendan Gaughan | Penske-Jasper Racing | Dodge |
| 7 | 42 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dodge |
| 8 | 2 | Rusty Wallace | Penske-Jasper Racing | Dodge |
| 9 | 21 | Ricky Rudd | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 10 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
Race statistics
- Time of race: 3:50:55
- Average Speed: 105.623 miles per hour (169.984 km/h)
- Pole Speed: 179.319 miles per hour (288.586 km/h)
- Cautions: 14 for 79 laps
- Margin of Victory: 0.342
- Lead changes: 14
- Percent of race run under caution: 29.2%
- Average green flag run: 12.8 laps
References
- Weather information at The Old Farmers Almanac