The 2004 MBNA America 400 was the 28th stock car race of the

2004 NASCAR Nextel 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 ...

season, the second race of the 2004 Chase for the Nextel Cup, and the 36th iteration of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. The race was held on Sunday, September 26, 2004, before a crowd of 140,000 in

Dover, Delaware Dover () is the capital and second-largest city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County and the principal city of the Dover, DE, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County and is part of ...

at Dover International Speedway, a 1 mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Ryan Newman of

Penske-Jasper Racing Jasper Motorsports was a NASCAR Winston Cup team. It was owned by a variety of owners including D.K. Ulrich and Doug Bawel. 1970s–1980s The car started in 1971 at what turned out to be the only Winston Cup race at Smoky Mountain Raceway ...

would dominate to win his 11th career NASCAR Nextel Cup Series win and his second and final win of the season. To fill out the podium, Mark Martin of

Roush Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Politics *Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana * J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of: ** J. Edward Roush Lake, a re ...

and

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

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 Seri ...

would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

that has held at least two

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 ...

races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1 mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by

Dover Motorsports Speedway Motorsports, LLC is an American company that owns and manages auto racing facilities that host races sanctioned by NASCAR, IndyCar Series, NHRA, World of Outlaws and other racing series. The company was founded by Bruton Smith and has ...

. The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after

Dover Downs Bally's Dover Casino Resort, formerly Dover Downs, is a hotel, casino, and racetrack complex in Dover, Delaware. It has a harness horse racing track, which is surrounded by Dover Motor Speedway, a concrete track used for NASCAR motor racing ...

Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

Entry list

Practice

First practice

The first practice session would occur on Friday, September 24, at 11:05 AM EST and would last for one hour and 55 minutes. Rusty Wallace of

would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 22.536 and an average speed of .

Second practice

The second practice session would occur on Saturday, September 25, at 9:30 AM EST and would last for 45 minutes. Matt Kenseth of

would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 23.213 and an average speed of .

Third and final practice

The third and final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, would occur on Saturday, September 25, at 11:10 AM EST and would last for 45 minutes.

Ward Burton John Edward Burton III (born October 25, 1961) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He has five career wins in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, including the 2002 Daytona 500 and the 2001 Southern 500. He is the older brothe ...

of Haas CNC Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 23.213 and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying would occur on Friday, September 24, at 2:40 PM EST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Positions 1-38 would be decided on time, while positions 39-43 would be based on provisionals. Four spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The fifth is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champ needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points will be awarded a provisional. Jeremy Mayfield of Evernham Motorsports would win the pole, setting a time of 28.776 and an average speed of . Terry Labonte would crash on his second lap, losing the backend of his car in Turn 1. However, he had made a lap that was able to get him in on time, and would still be able to qualify without a provisional. Seven drivers would fail to qualify:

Hermie Sadler Herman Marion Sadler III (born April 24, 1969) is a candidate for the newly redrawn Virginia State Senate District 17 and was a former American professional stock car racing driver, announcer, professional wrestling promoter, and autism advocate ...

, Carl Long, Stanton Barrett, Greg Sacks,

Kenny Hendrick Kenny Hendrick (born September 10, 1969) is an American stock car racing driver. He is a former competitor in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Craftsman Truck Series. He is the twin brother of former United States Auto Club, USAC Midget car racing ...

, Derrike Cope, and

Mike Garvey Michael Garvey (born September 13, 1962) is an American professional stock car racing driver who currently works as a crew chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for DGM Racing's No. 90 Chevrolet Camaro. As a driver, he competed in NASCAR and the Ame ...

Full qualifying results

Race results

References

{{2004 Nextel Cup 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series NASCAR races at Dover Motor Speedway September 2004 sports events in the United States 2004 in sports in Delaware