The Subway 400 was the second race of the

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 ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, 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. ...

season until 2004, held a week after the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

. This 400-mile (644 km) annual race was sponsored by

Subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Interconti ...

and was held at

North Carolina Speedway Rockingham Speedway, formerly North Carolina Motor Speedway and later North Carolina Speedway is a racetrack located near Rockingham, North Carolina. It is also known as The Rock and previously hosted NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, ...

(''The Rock'') since 1966. From 1966 to 1995, the race distance was 500 miles (805-km) which was shortened to 400 miles starting from the 1996 season. Until the 2004 Nextel Cup season, two annual races were held at Rockingham. After the 2003 season, the fall race (the

Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 The Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series event that took place in November at the North Carolina Motor Speedway from 1965 to 2003. It was the first NASCAR Cup Series victory for three drivers including Mark Martin in ...

) — which was held in November — was moved to California Speedway, to be held on the lucrative

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

weekend. This displaced the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, which moved to November 2004 before being removed from the schedule completely (replaced by a second date at Texas Motor Speedway). The changes were part of the trend of less races being held in the southeast and a broader distribution across the

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 ...

. Though the spring date was not directly transferred to California, NASCAR moved up the first California race to the traditional spring Rockingham date the week after Daytona. This resulted in some criticism because teams had to travel cross-country for the second race as most spend two weeks in Daytona and are based in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. The draw for Rockingham was that teams got to stay close to home right after Daytona before traveling for the next race. The 2004 Subway 400 had one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history. Nextel Cup rookie, Kasey Kahne, in just his second series start, lost the race to Matt Kenseth by inches at the line. The exciting finish proved to be NASCAR's last stand at Rockingham, as the race (and the track, for that matter), were removed from the schedule permanently after that due to the

Ferko lawsuit ''Ferko, et al. v. National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc., et al.'', commonly known as the Ferko lawsuit, was an American lawsuit between plaintiff Francis Ferko, a resident of Plano, Texas, and a minor shareholder of the then-public ...

Past winners

*1974: Race shortened due to energy crisis. *1983: Race started on March 6; finished a week later on March 13 due to rain. *2001: Race started on Sunday but was finished on Monday due to rain.

Multiple winners (drivers)

Multiple winners (manufacturers)

Notable Races

*1972: Bobby Allison started last and led over 300 laps before breaking, and pole-sitter Bobby Isaac took the win, his final in Grand National racing. *1973:

David Pearson David or Dave Pearson may refer to: * David Pearson (librarian) (born 1955), British librarian and scholar * David Pearson (racing driver) (1934–2018), American car racing champion * David Pearson (scientist) (born 1942), Canadian scientist, a ...

led all but one lap en route to an overwhelming win, the beginning of his 1973 assault on superspeedway records. *1975:

Cale Yarborough William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1 ...

edged Pearson after

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notabl ...

lost several laps with a cracked cylinder head. *1976: Petty won by two laps as Bobby Allison survived a shocking tumble down the backstretch. *1977: Crashes galore kept the average speed to 97 MPH as Petty took his sixth Carolina 500 win. *1979: Just two weeks after their crash in the Daytona 500,

and Donnie Allison crashed while battling for the lead just 10 laps into the race, collecting several other cars;

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, former national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series dur ...

and

, both involved in the wreck, were pointedly critical of Yarborough's role. Bobby Allison took the win. *1981:

outlasted Petty and Cale for his first big track win with Junior Johnson. *1983: Petty edged

Bill Elliott William Clyde Elliott (born October 8, 1955), also known as Awesome Bill from Dawsonville, Million Dollar Bill, or Wild Bill is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He competes full time in the Camping World Superstar Racing ...

for his first win in seventeen months. *1985: Elliott suffered a leg injury in a hard crash, as

Neil Bonnett Lawrence Neil Bonnett (July 30, 1946 – February 11, 1994) was an American NASCAR driver who compiled 18 victories and 20 poles over his 18-year career. Bonnett was a member of the Alabama Gang, and started his career with the help of Bobby an ...

edged

Harry Gant Harold Phil Gant"Harry P. Gant"
(born January 10, 1940), known for his many nicknames such as "The Ban ...

in a photo finish, the second straight Rockingham race to end in a photo finish, and second straight heartbreaker for Gant. *1989: Rusty Wallace made up a lap as

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably dri ...

and Ricky Rudd tangled on the backstretch. Wallace pulled away to the win. *1990: Kyle Petty overwhelmed the field for his first win since 1987 and the first for

SABCO Racing The NASCAR operation of Chip Ganassi Racing was established in 1989 by Felix Sabates, a Cuban immigrant who was a self-made millionaire distributing products such as Teddy Ruxpin and Sega video game systems. The team was known as SABCO Racing, fo ...

. *1995:

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 ...

edged Bobby Labonte for his first win of the season. *1996: A spirited battle for the lead ended in a wreck as

hit Bobby Hamilton into the wall off Four on Lap 343. *2001: One week after

's death,

Steve Park Stephen Park (born August 23, 1967) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He won races in NASCAR's two top Northeast touring series ( Modified and K&N East) and all three national divisions (Truck, Busch, Cup Series). Park ...

drove a

Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) was a race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa Earnhardt, to compete in the NASCAR series, the highest level of competition for professional stock car racing in the United States. From 1998 to 2009, t ...

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

to a close win over Bobby Labonte. It was his final win in the Cup Series. *2002: Matt Kenseth ended a two-year victory drought after escaping a multicar melee on the backstretch when

spun out

Casey Atwood Casey Lee Atwood (born August 25, 1980) is an American former stock car racing driver. A former competitor in NASCAR competition, he is the youngest pole winner in Busch Series history, earning a pole start at the age of 17. Atwood had his most s ...

and four-other cars piled in. *2003:

Dale Jarrett Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champio ...

scored his second to last win. *2004: The final race at Rockingham ended in a close finish won by Matt Kenseth over rookie Kasey Kahne.

References

External links