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  *Comments on the 2004 Tropicana Twister 300:*
  View the most recent comment <#47> | Post a comment <#post>


  1.   CD posted:
  10.31.2004 - 4:40 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Anyone who led this race was cursed except Justin Labonte he won!!
And note that Todd Szegedy was almost run over by an orange during his
time trial.


  2.   Brian posted:
  11.02.2004 - 12:11 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Mike Wallace would've won his 2nd straight race. Or JJ Yeley wouldve won
his first, but both had problems.


  3.   Mike D posted:
  02.24.2005 - 1:34 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Hamilton Jr who dominated chicago last year, and started with a strong
car had an engine failure. Kyle Bush later had engien woes while
leading. JJ Yeley was leading, when a bad pit stop killed him. Mike
Wallace took over and had it wrapped up, when on the last lap he ran out
of fuel.


  4.   Anonymous posted:
  03.08.2005 - 4:10 am
   Rate this comment:      (2)      (0)

Regardless of the problems that everyone had, it was great to see Justin
Labonte shock everyone and head into Victory Lane.


  5.   HomeDepot20TS posted:
  02.24.2006 - 2:10 pm
   Rate this comment:      (5)      (2)

Based on his run in 2005, I don't expect a repeat performance. This win,
while a great story, was a fluke with the fuel milage deal


  6.   Darrell posted:
  06.13.2006 - 6:49 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Too bad that this will likely be Justin's only win. He and his crew were
so excited about this win.


  7.   mcmurrayfan posted:
  06.25.2006 - 5:17 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Justin is the only Busch driver to win after getting the "Lucky Dog" (as
of today).


  8.   Fenway posted:
  09.30.2006 - 11:23 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Justin Labonte put himself in position to take advantage of Hamilton and
Kyle Busch's engine failures, Yeley's pit stop and Wallace's fuel problems.

It'll probably be his only career top-five finish, but what a way to do it.


  9.   biffle16 posted:
  01.09.2007 - 2:39 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (2)

That was pure luck.

He never even got another top ten that season.

I'd be surprised if he even got another top 20.

Biffle 32nd. :(


  10.   HomeDepotKid posted:
  01.19.2007 - 12:42 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

I will forever remember this race, tho, for the previously-mentioned
gigantic orange that invaded the track. I watched it live on SpeedTV,
and it was perhaps the most bizarre thing I had seen in NASCAR.


  11.   Dave posted:
  05.21.2007 - 3:29 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

I thought the orange was 2003?


  12.   Rusty posted:
  06.22.2007 - 3:19 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Nope, the orange was in qualyifing for this race.


  13.   SK posted:
  08.21.2007 - 8:58 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Billy Parker's last start for RWI (and in the Busch Series period, as of
2007).


  14.   James W. McLaughlin posted:
  08.25.2007 - 2:30 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Uh-oh! Watch out for that big orange, Todd!


  15.   SK posted:
  11.23.2007 - 8:29 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

In response to biffle's comment, Justin would go on to record 20 more
top-20 finishes in the 45 starts he made following this event, including
a 7th at Talladega in '05.

He's only 26, so I have a feeling he'll be back...


  16.   Rusty posted:
  06.08.2008 - 11:50 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (2)

I have a feeling not, he's a perfect example of a one hit wonder, and
what's sad is that David Gilliland got a Cup ride for his one hit
wonder, and Labonte has more top 10s in this series than Gilliland.


  17.   RacEfan posted:
  07.05.2008 - 4:46 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Jeff Burton's last start in the Busch Series for Jack Roush.


  18.   JJMAN48 posted:
  09.16.2008 - 1:37 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

I LOVED THIS RACE!!!


  19.   russ shurtliff posted:
  03.26.2011 - 2:41 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Todd Szegedy and a track workers pickup were almost run over by an
orange during his time trial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC5r6I7RsC8


  20.   1995z71 posted:
  01.29.2012 - 6:56 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

pretty safe to say this was the U.S. Coast Guards win NASCAR win, they
would get a few more later on with Kevin Harvick, including a
championship. They've also sponsored Brian Vickers, Dave Marcis, & Mike
Bliss


  21.   83andJoe posted:
  08.20.2013 - 6:14 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

#33 owner: Kevin Harvick (same at races #29, #33 and #34)


  22.   EyeofTheCougar posted:
  01.17.2014 - 9:58 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Biggest fluke ever in NASCAR history!! Least Derrike Cope in 1990 showed
some promise in other races ..Labonte never done anything expect win
this race.


  23.   Anonymous posted:
  05.21.2014 - 11:20 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Eh, let's keep comparisons in the same generation. Terry Labonte >>>
Derrike Cope. Justin Labonte >>> Angela and Amber Cope.

Lol.


  24.   88&4Fan posted:
  12.11.2015 - 11:18 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

This guy has to be a troll.


  25.   Windows Millennium Edition posted:
  03.20.2016 - 11:24 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Sponsor updates:

#1 Exact Express/Yellow Transportation
#00 Haas Automation/NetZero
#17 Bayer


  26.   Anonymous posted:
  08.20.2016 - 5:05 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (6)

Can't believe that RCR start and parked the 21 and Harvick agreed to do
it. Lost a little respect for them when I saw this. Anything to win a
championship I guess.


  27.   RaceFanX posted:
  08.20.2016 - 5:44 pm
   Rate this comment:      (5)      (0)

The #21's retirement was a legitimate failure. Harvick qualified strong
and ran top-10 in the early laps. He was running seventh when the
Reese's Chevy lost all oil pressure and he had to limp back to the pits.
They tried to fix it on pit road and failed.


  28.   The Other Anonymous posted:
  08.21.2016 - 11:02 am
   Rate this comment:      (4)      (0)

This race is on YouTube, and RaceFanX is correct. So "vibration" is
somewhat misleading for the DNF reasoning.

Clint Boywer's DNF however was a little more mysterious. He pulled into
the garage as Bobby Hamilton Jr. was being interviewed after his early
engine failure.


  29.   Ed posted:
  02.22.2017 - 7:03 pm
   Rate this comment:      (3)      (0)

The funny thing is Todd went out and laid down a faster lap the second time


  30.   Gray Gaulding's Distant Cousin posted:
  08.17.2017 - 3:27 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

17 Sponsor is wrong, you have the Michigan sponsor listed, Matt had
Bayer on the car.


  31.   Tyler posted:
  10.02.2017 - 10:10 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

A great story that Justin can tell his kids and grandkids. It was a
fluke, but he did run Wallace down before he ran out of gas. Not like he
won it without racing it out a little. There have been cheaper wins.


  32.   Mile501 posted:
  10.02.2017 - 10:13 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Not only that, but it was his only top-10 finish of the season, so he
was running unusually well to even be in position to take advantage of
Mike Wallace running out of gas.


  33.   Gabriel posted:
  04.22.2018 - 11:48 pm
   Rate this comment:      (2)      (1)

I understand it was "only a Fuel Mileage win", but hey. A win's a win no
matter what. He was still an underdog and even if it was on Fuel
Mileage, I love the underdogs beating the top teams on Fuel Mileage. I
mean everyone (myself included) wishes to this day that Reed Sorenson
had a quart or two of gas and he might've won the 2006 Fontana race.


  34.   Mannoroth posted:
  04.23.2018 - 7:04 am
   Rate this comment:      (2)      (0)

"A win's a win no matter what."

I agree, but there's still a need to distinguish wins. Fuel mileage win
or a win due to rain can't be on the same level as a normal win, where
some driver is just better in one race thanks to elite equipment.
Superspeedway win (Daytona or Talladega) is the same, because equipment
doesn't matter there and it's just about survival and be the best at the
end.

It's like some win from Trucks, which is also a NASCAR (professional)
win, but can't be on the same level as a Cup win, because Trucks are the
3rd highest national series. Same for Xfinity, which is the 2nd highest
national series. It's still a win, though.
Another example - MotoGP, where wins from all 3 series also counts
together, but... like in NASCAR, it's just a number, nothing else. It
doesn't make your primary career better.


  35.   Gabriel posted:
  04.23.2018 - 6:51 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

I know wins have to be distinguished. But at the same time I guarantee
we would've done anything to get a win if we were in positions that
Justin Labonte, Casey Mears, Chris Buescher (just to name a few) were
in. Their gambles paid off, while others, like Reed Sorenson as I
mentioned, did not.

And yes, the win is a statistic in NASCAR. Actually, this race would be
Labonte's only Top 5 of his entire career. But we wouldn't even be
talking about his racing style on this thread had he not won this race.

But at the same time, all those drivers who did get lucky have more wins
than all 34 of us commenting here combined. And even if the rest of
their careers were awful, like Justin's was, they at least have a story
to brag to all their friends the rest of their lives, that they were a
NASCAR winner. You have to admit, it was pretty cool to see Terry
Labonte proud of his son in victory lane.


  36.   rw posted:
  09.17.2018 - 12:44 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

The full race is finally on Youtube so i can finally relive the moment
where I started to follow Justin Labonte's career.


  37.   Not Sure posted:
  09.17.2018 - 3:53 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (1)

Justin Labonte shares something in common with Jimmie Johnson: their
lone Xfinity Series victories came at Chicagoland. Unfortunately for
Labonte he was not bizarrely handpicked by the sport's biggest star to
move up to Cup the next season with a top team - inheriting that star's
championship winning fleet of cars in the process - and paired with a
crew chief who gave a driver who has only 1 top ten in 89 career Cup
races a 1.75 average starting position at restrictor plate tracks.


  38.   Anonymous posted:
  09.17.2018 - 8:53 am
   Rate this comment:      (4)      (0)

LMAO @37. Johnson took a startup team straight from ASA to back-to-back
top 10 points finishes in what at the time was a loaded Busch Series.
Justin Labonte was backed by a two-time Cup champion father and
literally did nothing noteworthy outside of this race. Jimmie Johnson
was Ross Chastain before it was cool.


  39.   rm posted:
  12.08.2018 - 10:07 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Todd Szegedy's spotter on this weekend was Jerry Nadeau. Nadeau's first
time back working at the track since his accident - though he had been
on hand to watch a few races - was very eventful.


  40.   Tyler posted:
  07.09.2019 - 10:43 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (3)

At least Justin had to race a little bit for it, holding his own on old
tires in 2nd and then running down Wallace before he ran out of fuel.

There are guys who win races and don't have to race at all for it, like
Justin Haley just did at Daytona...


  41.   DavidD posted:
  03.30.2020 - 6:20 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Re-watching qualifying for this race and the owner for Clint Bowyer's
#33 should actually be Andy Petree. Casey Mears was supposed to drive
the car but because of a conflict with Dodge was unable to so Petree
"borrowed" Bowyer from RCR for this race as Kevin Harvick was in the 21
anyway.


  42.   YSRF0006 posted:
  04.03.2020 - 12:34 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

DNQ Order, based on SPEED broadcast of qualifying, uploaded to YouTube
by Dave W.

44. #88 Jeff Fuller
45. #51 Blake Mallory
46. #91 Stanton Barrett
47. #77 Jimmy Kitchens
48. #07 Carl Long
49. #62 Larry Hollenbeck
50. #56 Kevin Conway

Fuller missed the Top 38 by 48 thousandths of a second.


  43.   Anonymous posted:
  04.17.2020 - 10:39 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

This race marked the Debut of NBC and TNT's new graphics debuted that
season after retiring the old ones after Speedweeks 2004 and used the
new until the end of NBC's first run in 2006.


  44.   SweetRich posted:
  07.06.2020 - 8:53 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

The final race for car owner Michael Holigan.


  45.   Statscrash posted:
  07.20.2020 - 11:37 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

@33 as a Kasey Kahne fan no I don't wish Reed had more gas


  46.   Anonymous posted:
  11.24.2020 - 7:17 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

From what I have read, Bowyer said the car he drove in this race was the
worse handling car he has driven. Does anyone have any more history on
this car?


  47.   Rich posted:
  04.26.2021 - 8:56 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Allen Bestwick along with Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach were the
commentators. Matt Yocum along with Marty Snider and Dave Burns were the
pit road reporters. Bill Weber was at the NASCAR on NBC pit hauler.


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