Photo – Emily Horos/AP
The traditional Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway found itself in an unusual spot in 2004. A big shake-up in the Cup schedule moved the Labor Day date to the second-to-last race in the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup.
The 2004 championship was coming down to the wire. Kurt Busch held the points lead over Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and others. Inclement weather during the weekend cancelled qualifying, giving Busch the pole.
There was also a new twist to the race. The Southern 500 would start in the daytime and end in the nighttime. Lights were added to the track in early 2004.
Busch led the first lap to gain those extra five valuable points, but Gordon snatched the lead from the No.97. Gordon would prove to have the dominant car on the day by leading 155 laps.
A mistake on a pit stop on lap 330 dropped the No. 24 to sixth and Gordon had to fight his way back to the front.
Gordon’s teammate Johnson stayed in the hunt. Two drivers stayed out on a late caution and Johnson came onto pit road and found himself in third.
Johnson got by Kasey Kahne for second and set his sights on leader Jamie McMurray. Fresher tires proved to be king as Johnson made the pass on McMurray with eight laps to go.
Everyone was catching Johnson from then on, as the No. 48 team won the final Mountain Dew Southern 500 to complete the Darlington sweep.
Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon got around McMurray on the final lap to finish second and third respectively.
Points leader Kurt Busch fought an ill-handling race car to finish sixth and left with an 18 point lead heading into the finale.
Going into next week’s race at Homestead, five drivers would have a shot to win the 2004 Chase for the Nextel Cup. Stay tuned at a later date to find out who wins.
2004 Mountain Dew Southern 500 Top Ten