The 2004 Banquet 400 was a

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 hi ...

Nextel Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

race that took place on October 10, 2004, at

Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 2011 ...

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

. The race was won from the

pole Pole may refer to: Astronomy *Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets *Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...

Joe Nemechek Joseph Frank Nemechek III (born September 26, 1963) is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 24 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Nemechek has made the second mos ...

, his final trip to

victory lane The following is a glossary of terminology used in motorsport, along with explanations of their meanings. 0–9 ;1–2 finish: When two vehicles from the same team finish first and second in a race. Can be extended to 1–2–3 or 1–2–3– ...

in NASCAR.

Ricky Rudd Richard Lee Rudd (born September 12, 1956), nicknamed "The Rooster", is an American former racing driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and former NASCAR Busch Series driver Jason Rudd. He retired in 2007 with 23 career wins. He was named ...

finished second and

Greg Biffle Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing Team and full-time in the ...

came in third.

Race report

would defeat

by just one car length (.081 of a second) in front of 90,000 fans. Nemechek won the pole position for the race at just over during Friday's qualifying session. The race took three hours to complete and nine caution periods slowed the race for 39 laps. The race began at approximately 2:00 PM EDT and concluded at approximately 5:07 PM EDT. At an interview done in 2012, Nemechek praised NASCAR's then-lenient rules on "vehicle innovation" that allowed him to acquire his fourth (and final) NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Sterling Marlin Sterling Burton Marlin (born June 30, 1957) is an American semi-retired, professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, driving the No. 114 for Sterling Marlin Racing. He formerly competed in the N ...

had problems in the pits and came out with a terrible 34th-place finish due to a crash.

Kirk Shelmerdine Edward Kirk Shelmerdine V (born March 8, 1958) is an American stock car racing driver and former championship-winning crew chief for Dale Earnhardt. Crew chief After spending his early NASCAR career as an engineer for Hylton Engineering, in 1984 ...

received the last-place finish on the third lap of this 267-lap race due to a problem with his clutch.''2004 Banquet 400''
racing information at Racing Reference

Shane Hmiel Shane Riley Hmiel (born May 15, 1980) is an American former racecar driver, who competed in all three of NASCAR's national series. Hmiel's controversial stock car career, marred by accidents from his aggressive driving style, ended in 2006 after ...

would make the best finish in his NASCAR career to date with a respectable 24th-place finish. Veteran driver

Larry Gunselman Larry Gunselman (born December 1, 1960) is an American former stock car racing driver and team owner. He was the owner of Max Q Motorsports, which fielded the No. 37 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from 2009–12. Career Gunselman beg ...

would make his final Nextel Cup Series start.''2004 Banquet 400''
racing information at Race Database He would attempt the next two Daytona 500 races and make several starts in the Busch and

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

before becoming the owner of

Max Q Motorsports Max Q Motorsports (formerly Gunselman Motorsports) was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owned by former driver Larry Gunselman. It fielded cars between 2009 and 2013. Sprint Cup Series Car No. 37 history After the Daytona 500 in 2011, Max Q Motor ...

; a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team that is currently inactive. Kyle Busch crashed out for the second time in his fourth career start in 2004. Oddly enough, neither of his first two crashouts directly resulted in cautions coming out for his wrecks. At Las Vegas, he smacked the outside wall twice very early on. The hits weren't hard enough to spray debris but they were sufficient enough to force the crew to park the car after Kyle limped it back to the pits. Here at Kansas, Kyle hit the outside wall in the trioval and knocked a brake rotor out of his car, which was promptly run over by a trailing Mark Martin. Kyle slowed on the track without any visibly significant cosmetic damage while Mark had to pit after one more lap with two flat tires, finally prompting a caution for the debris. Mark was almost instantly bailed out thanks to a caution just after the ensuing restart, earning him the lucky dog, but Kyle had to drive his car straight to the back of the hauler due to the terminal brake system damage. This was the fifth and final NASCAR Cup Series race for owner Dave Watson, the owner of W.W. Motorsports. Purse monies for each driver ranged from $279,725 ($ when adjusted for inflation) to $63,212 ($ when adjusted for inflation). Kansas Speedway awarded a grand total of $3,553,992 to all the drivers who qualified for this event ($ when adjusted for inflation).Racing winnings information
at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet

Top 10 finishers

Standings after the race

References

{{2004 Nextel Cup

Banquet 400 The Hollywood Casino 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. This race is the second of ten races in the Cup Series playoffs; since 2022, it is the second race of the Round of 16. NBC has the r ...

NASCAR races at Kansas Speedway