2004 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 56th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 33rd modern-era Cup series season. The season began on Saturday, February 7, and ended on Sunday, November 21. Kurt Busch, who drove a Ford for Roush Racing, was the Nextel Cup champion. It would be the last time until 2012 that the championship would be won by someone other than Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson. This was the first season that NASCAR utilized the Chase for the Nextel Cup format that began with the Sylvania 300 on Sunday, September 19. Under the format rules, the top 10 drivers (and any additional drivers within 400 points of the leader) by the end of the 26th race would be eligible to compete in a final 10-race playoff to determine the NASCAR Nextel Cup champion. Following the 26th race, the eligible drivers would have their points reset to bring the drivers closer together in the standings, with only five points separating each driver. The season w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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List Of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champions
The NASCAR Cup Series Drivers' Championship is awarded by the chairman of NASCAR to the most successful NASCAR Cup Series racing car driver over a season, as determined by a NASCAR rules and regulations#Championship points system, points system based on race results. The Drivers' Championship was first awarded in 1949 in NASCAR, 1949 to Red Byron. The first driver to win multiple Championships was Herb Thomas in 1951 in NASCAR, 1951 and 1953 in NASCAR, 1953. The current Drivers' Champion is Joey Logano, who won his second NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2022 NASCAR Cup Series, 2022. The NASCAR points system has undergone several incarnations since its initial implementation. Originally, races awarded points by a complicated system based upon final positioning and weighted by prize money purses, such that higher-paying events gave more points. Soon after the advent of the modern era in 1972, the championship was decided by a more basic cumulative point total based solely upon a dri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 2018. The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe. History Early stock car racing In the 1920s and 1930s, Daytona Beach supplanted France and Belgium as the preferred location for world land speed records. After a historic race between Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton in 1903, 15 records were set on what became the Daytona Beach Road Course between 1905 and 1935. Daytona Beach had become synonymous with fast cars in 1936. Drivers raced on a course, consisting of a stretch of beach as one straightaway, and a narrow blacktop beachfront highway, Florid ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Randy Dorton
Randall Alexander Dorton (May 1, 1954 – October 24, 2004) was the Director of Engine Operations and lead engine builder for Hendrick Motorsports. With Dorton, the team won nine NASCAR championships. On October 24, 2004, Dorton was killed in a 2004 Hendrick Motorsports aircraft crash, plane crash in Patrick County, Virginia, Patrick County, Virginia's Bull Mountain, near Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia, Martinsville, in which he along with seven other passengers, a number of whom associated with Hendrick Motorsports, and the two pilots were killed. Career Born in Concord, North Carolina, Dorton began his NASCAR career in the 1970s working for crew chief Harry Hyde. In 1984, Dorton's company Competition Engines was bought out by Hendrick Motorsports, and two years later, he was named Engine Builder of the Year by NASCAR and Clevite Engine Parts. Dorton's engines helped guide the team to nine NASCAR titles (five in the Winston Cup Series, one in the Busch Series, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rick Hendrick
Joseph Riddick "Rick" Hendrick III (born July 12, 1949), nicknamed "Mr. H", is an American businessman. He is best known as the owner of the NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports. He is also a co-owner of JR Motorsports and founder of the Hendrick Automotive Group, a network of over 100 car dealerships. As of 2021, his team has won 280 NASCAR Cup Series races, making him the winningest team owner in NASCAR. His team has also won a combined total of 18 NASCAR Championships (14 in the NASCAR Cup Series: 7 by Jimmie Johnson, 4 by Jeff Gordon, and 1 by (Chase Elliott, Terry Labonte, Kyle Larson) (3 in the NASCAR Truck Series: all by Jack Sprague) (1 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Brian Vickers in 2003). He is one of only three owners in history to win NASCAR Championships in the top three series, joining Richard Childress and Jack Roush. Hendrick was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2017 and was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on March 17, 202 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, just south of Martinsville. At in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in stock car racing, being built in 1947 by partners H. Clay Earles, Henry Lawrence, and Sam Rice, nearly a year before NASCAR was officially formed. It is also the only race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948. Along with this, Martinsville is the only oval track on the NASCAR circuit to have asphalt surfaces on the straightaways and concrete to cover the turns. Layout The track is often referred to as paper clip-shaped and is banked only 12° in the turns. The combination of long straightaways and flat, narrow turns makes hard braking going into turns and smooth acceleration exiting turns a must. The track was paved in 1955 and in 1956 it hosted its first 500-lap event. By the 1970s, a combination of high- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. To the west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the Great Appalachian Valley, bordered on the west by the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian range. The Blue Ridge Mountains are known for having a bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere. This contributes to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their perceived color. Within the Blue Ridge province are two major national parks – the Shenandoah National Park in the northern secti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2004 Martinsville Plane Crash
On October 24, 2004, a Beechcraft Super King Air aircraft, registered and owned by NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports, crashed into mountainous terrain in Stuart, Virginia, during a missed approach to Blue Ridge Airport in Martinsville, Virginia. The aircraft was transporting eight passengers and two flight crew to Martinsville so they could attend the NASCAR event at Martinsville Speedway that afternoon. All ten people on board were killed; among them, members of the Hendrick family including John Hendrick, president of Hendrick Motorsports, his twin daughters, Ricky Hendrick, former Busch Series driver and heir to the Hendrick empire. Hendrick Motorsports staff involved includes Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick, General Manager Jeff Turner, and chief engine builder Randy Dorton. The pilots were Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison. Other passengers include Joe Jackson, an executive at DuPont and Scott Lathram, Tony Stewart's pilot. Crash The King Air took off from Concord, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 291 Cup Series races and 14 Cup Series owners and drivers championships to go with three Truck Series owners and drivers titles and one Xfinity Series drivers crown. Additionally, the team has 26 Xfinity Series race wins, 26 Truck Series race wins, and 7 ARCA Racing Series race wins. For 2022, Hendrick Motorsports fields four full-time Cup Series teams with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1; the No. 5 for Kyle Larson, the No. 9 for Chase Elliott, the No. 24 William Byron, and the No. 48 for Alex Bowman. In the Xfinity Series, the team currently fields the No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro SS part-time for Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, and William Byron. The team formerly fielded teams in the now-NASCAR Xfinity Series before merging its efforts with JR Motorsports before ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Private Aviation
Private aviation is the part of civil aviation that does not include flying for hire, as opposed to commercial aviation. Definition Private aviation and commercial aviation are not rigorously defined. In general, private aviation is regarded as flights that do not require a commercial pilot licence (CPL) or above. Some commercial activities do not require a CPL, for example in Europe a flight instructor may have a PPL. Nonetheless, in the United Kingdom flight instruction is considered a commercial operation. In most countries, private flights are always general aviation flights, but the opposite is not true: many general aviation flights (such as corporate and business aviation) are commercial in that the pilot is hired and paid. In private flight the pilot is not paid, and all aircraft operating expenses are generally paid by the pilot. In some countries such as the United States, aircraft operating expenses for a flight may optionally be divided with any passengers up to a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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76 (gas Station)
76 (formerly Union 76) is a chain of gas stations located within the United States. The 76 brand is owned by Phillips 66. Unocal, the original owner and creator of the 76 brand, merged with Chevron Corporation in 2005. History The Union Oil Company of California (later known as Unocal) introduced the ''Union 76'' brand to their existing Union Oil service stations in 1932. After expanding along the West Coast, the ''Union 76'' brand expanded to the Midwest and Southeast through the acquisition of Pure Oil in 1965. In 1989, Unocal began to gradually exit the Midwest and Eastern markets by forming a joint venture with PDVSA, called Uno-Ven, in which Unocal contributed its Midwest refining and marketing assets. Unocal sold its interest in Uno-Ven to PDVSA in 1997 and PDVSA rebranded the Midwestern and Eastern Union 76 stations to its Citgo brand. In 1997, Unocal also sold its remaining refining and marketing operations in the western United States and the rights to the Union ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Unocal Corporation
Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headquartered in El Segundo, California, United States. Unocal was involved in domestic and global energy projects. Unocal was one of the key players in the CentGas consortium, which attempted to build the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline to run from the Caspian area, through Afghanistan, to the Indian Ocean, at a time after the Taliban siege of Kabul in 1996. On August 10, 2005, Unocal merged its entire upstream petroleum business with Chevron and became a wholly-owned subsidiary. Unocal then ceased operations as an independent company, but continues to conduct many operations as Union Oil Company of California, a Chevron company. History The Union Oil Company of California was founded on October 17, 1890, in Santa Paula, California, by Lyman ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sunoco
Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations, almost all of which are owned and operated by third parties. The partnership is controlled by Energy Transfer Partners. The partnership was known as Sun Company Inc. from 1886 to 1920 and 1976 to 1998, and as Sun Oil Co. from 1920 to 1976. (Sunoco is a condensation of SUN Oil COmpany.) It used to be engaged in oil refinery, the chemical industry, and retail sales, but divested these businesses. Sunoco today claims to be the largest distributor of fuels in the United States, distributing fuels to 10,000 locations across 33 US States. History 1800s to 1950s: founding and growth The partnership began as The Peoples Natural Gas Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1886, its partners – Joseph Newton Pew, Philip Pisano, and Edward O. Eme ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |