@@H0LLOW_PRIV NASCAR fans will complain no matter what. But question is, what is more of a deserving champion? One race or race 1 to 36 race every race to perfection?
@@mccannmotorsports3858 fans complained about it in 2003, then after Johnson dominated, and now people are complaining about the Playoffs. The cycle never gets old
@@H0LLOW_PRIV I understand but back then that's how racing was, it's the way its supposed to be. Football isn't gonna change how it determines who wins the super bowl because people complained about it? Why should it be any different to racing, besides just focus more on the racing itself instead of the title
I learned how title sponsorship works during this race. I thought they were ending NASCAR entirely. My parents had to reassure crying 7 year old me that NASCAR would still be around, they were just changing the name 🤣
The whole era between mid-late 2003 up to the C.O.T is probably my favorite era of NASCAR cup cars. They were so sleek, and looked and sounded great. Not to mention, it was the NASCAR I partially grew up with, so I'm biased there
Wasn't necessarily the last race for Pontiac. They still had some drivers run them in 04, just without factory support. The last race a Pontiac attempted was at Texas in 04
@@AceD500 I would like to see a Dodge Challenger running against the Mustangs, Camaros and Camrys. Or better yet, having Honda, Nissan or Volkswagen as the 4th manufacturer.
As a Bill Elliott fan this races makes me want to cry. I still remember about a month after this I had the opportunity to meet Bobby because I was racing with his son at a quarter midgets race. I remember congratulating bobby but still wishing Bill had won.
That was one of my favorite parts of going to the bigger quarter midget races ya never know who your gonna see I remember one year at mini Indy I wheeled my car over to Dave blaney and had him autograph one of my front panels then I got my ass kicked by his son Ryan not long after lol
I disagree 2003 seems like a long time ago back then everybody was playing original Xbox PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube that's how long ago 2003 was the PSP wasn't even out yet that's how long ago 2003 was.
@@pp3k3jamail20 years ago, the Winston Cup era ended, and with it the best points format NASCAR has ever had (not perfect but BEST). Now on Nov, 5th, 2023 the last full time Winston Cup Era Driver is done. Nascar won't last another 20 way is going.
1992 Championship Battle & the Hooters 500 when Richard Petty final race and Jeff Gordon legacy debut in Cup and plus the 2002 season is underrated one of the best season in the NASCAR Winston Cup Era. I miss NASCAR Winston Cup Series so much!
@@Tristin471 Agreed. The first race I watched was the 2004 Daytona 500, but I have watched plenty of Winston Cup-era races on DVD and right here on RU-vid. I always enjoy watching older races to see legends like Richard Petty, David Pearson, Dale Sr., Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, and the Allison brothers square off on short tracks, superspeedways, and road courses alike. The current racing product is great, but I would do anything to travel back in time and attend a Winston Cup-era race live in person.
Man I miss the Winston cup Era. They had a real championship, no bs stages, wrecked cars would limp around to collect all the points they could, the short track and superspeedway racing was way better, and product was just better in general.
I remember Bill saying he wished he had a can of gasoline in his interview. Like others have said, I miss the old way of racing before stages. I also miss the amount of racing there was. So many 500 mile races! I loved it. I also miss the old exhaust sounds.
I didn’t get into NASCAR until late 2004 and sadly never got into the Winston Cup era. I would say my favorite moment of the Winston Cup era would be the 2002 Sharpie 500.
My favorite part of the Wiston Cup Era was drivers racing with respect for each other and with etiquette. Less of the wreckfest/bumpercar stuff of the past several years. Favorite Moment, 2003 Darlington finish probably
We should go back to a season long championship system. Change the points to the current layout, but add bonus points for winning, leading at halfway, and leading the points at the halfway mark of the season.
I was there as a diehard Kenseth fan. Was dying to see the Dewalt car run(was at Daytona summer race where he was in a Carhart car I think). Great memories.
I wish Bill Elliott won this race, I mean he had the field covered but Bobby was just at the right place at the right time and after hearing Dale Jr.'s podcast and Fatback McSwain say "I was part of the team that won the last Winston Cup race. That is cool" and that makes me somewhat appreciative of the whole day. Also that day was pretty bittersweet because I saw my grandad in a nursing home and he started having early onset dementia and he knew who I was, but remembering names and faces was tough for him.
I remember being so upset that Bill Elliot didn't win that race. It was pretty much the end for him after a career resurgence and so wanted him to ride off into the sunset on top
Its so hard to believe how great nascar was during winston cup and how bad it sucks now. Those days are gone and its sad. Thank god you can still watch the old races on RU-vid. I still enjoy them as much as i did in the 80s and 90s. Nascar racing is dead forever
2003 in general was one of the memorable years in racing history as in addition to NASCAR, both F1 & the IRL had memorable title battles, with the IRL's featuring 5 drivers who had a shot at winning the title heading into the final race at Texas. That race is known for the violent wreck near the end that basically ended Kenny Brack's career. Then in F1 you had total chaos in the Brazilian GP (where the winner was decided two weeks after the race had taken place), someone running out onto the track at the British GP & nearly getting hit by passing cars & Michael Schumacher winning his 6th World Title by 2 points over Kimi Raikkonen. It was also the final year of CART as the effects of "The Split" were really in full swing with many of the big teams defecting to the IRL (if they had not done so already) & races either switching to IRL events or going away entirely (though some like Portland, Long Beach & Toronto were saved when Champ Car came into the picture the following year).
I wish nascar would go back to a season long championship. It just brings more validity to the championship. Instead Nascar would rather crown mickey mouse champions.
Agree under one condition: a change in the point format. No points for everybody. I would put just the top 15. And you must win at least a race during the season to be eligible for a championship.
I was at that race... my whole family drove down from Niagara Falls, Canada to Homestead for it, we were at the front by the restart line... we stayed in Key Largo and we will never forget that race! I love homestead it is a great track! Something I do remember from that race was someone through a cool bag at the flagman and he was arrested shortly after.
I like the old point system It doesn’t matter how many races you win 🥇 it’s all about how consistent you are Real drivers know how to drive and take car of the car.
This is a deep cut… Ricky Rudd showed up at the Bristol Mall when the Cubs Scouts were having their Pinewood Derby. Early 80’s. He seemed bewildered but Ricky made many fans that day.
Imagine telling NASCAR fans in and after 2003 that the “Winston Cup Era” of NASCAR is as greatest it’s gonna get. Whatever NASCAR was from 1948-2003 in general, it was just pure stock car racing. It was never perfect, but man it sure was golden. I did get into NASCAR in mid-2009, but those eras before 2004 must’ve been wonderful! Also the last race of the “Winston Cup Era” is gonna be 20 years old next week. Holy hell
If you would have told me back in 1970 when I first started being around NASCAR that my sport would turn into the shit show it is today I would have told you you were f'ing crazy.
@@johnstickles6789 I don’t blame you. It took 2 different managements to see how NASCAR is today. Could you imagine if NASCAR had managements that are ran by people who actually know how the Motorsports industry works
It was a pretty big race. Labonte won for the last time, it was the last race for Bill Elliott during his revival and Kenseth celebrated his title win. Remember when Matt Kenseth beat Jimmie Johnson for the title rather than the other way around? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
And Bill almost ended his career with wins in his final two races. Won the prior weekend in Rockingham (last fall race there) and blew a tire on the last lap in Homestead
Kurt Busch's feud with Jimmy Spencer was during the 2002 season(kurts first career win when he moved Spencer at the spring Bristol race) not the 2003 season
When Pontiac went away, alot of my passion for Cup racing went away too. It has taken me until this year to start watching a bit of NASCAR racing again.
Was there for that weekend. My dad worked for a company that was a partner with federated auto parts who was a track sponsor. He had a booth there. This weekend was what made me fall in love with nascar. I was 4 when I went to the homestead Miami speedway for the first time and I’ve been back 12 times since. Little did I know what was going on that weekend lol.
Little did we know at the time but 2004 onward would all be downhill for NASCAR only to have a few good seasons like 2007, 2011, and 2014. Many tracks would be taken off the top 3 Nascar schedules tracks being replaced by terrible tracks for the most part. Going to stage racing which was a horrible decision. And the change of car itself resulted in a car that is anything but a stock car now. NASCAR killed themselves simply as that and 2004 was the beginning of the end for NASCAR as a hole.
Oddly enough, the part I remembered most about this race was the Harvick-Newman-Busch wreck allowing Terry Labonte to make it into the top-10 in points in what'd been a quiet comeback season of sorts for him.
Was loving this race as it surely looked like my man Awesome Bill would win. I remember Bobby saying shortly before that flat that Bill was just playing with him. Then across the finish line it was my wife going crazy as her man Bobby won!
Winston Cup years and auto racing was awesome Jeff Gordon's winning 4 championships and Matt Kenseth winning a championship as well. Winston sponsored Cup.Drag Racing and Marlboro was on Formula 1 cars.
I was only 1 year old when that season ended, and the first season that I remember clearly was the 2008, yeah, the season where Jimmie Johnson won his 3rd championship.
Hey bud, this is the only way I could find to contact you directly. I love what you’re doing. Me, and my sons 15, 7, and 5 are all HUGE Earnhardt fans. They’re learning this from me since only my oldest got to physically see Dale Jr. race. (His name was on Dale Jr’s 2017 fall Talladega car.) That being said. It seemed pretty clear that Dale Jr. got hosed last night at Florence. Slowly, methodically, marched his way to the front from 26th I believe. He was running for 5th and slightly slid up the track into his competitor which caused him to spin with little to no damage that I could see. In NASCAR this is a “no call, let ‘em race” situation right? Not at Florence Speedway. They put Dale Jr. last car on the lead lap for this “horrendous” offense. Then Dale Jr. proceeded to put on the greatest “The Intimidator” performance he’s ever done. With 20 something to go he rallied back into the top 5, with the fastest car in the race, and accidentally slid up into a car in the battle for 3rd and spun him. Best I could see, the spun driver threw up a wave to Dale Jr, like “this is short track racing and you got me”, kind of thing. The track black flagged Dale Jr. AGAIN in a race he should have won. There was no intentional spinning going on. Straight up fair, clean racing. It seems like the Florence Motor Speedway would have made a lot more money without flagging Dale Jr. for nothing, TWICE. Me and my sons would like to get your take on this.
Growing up, it was always the "Winston Cup" and I never really put it together that it was Winston cigarettes sponsoring NASCAR, I always just thought someone important's name was Winston (like maybe it woulda been the France cup or something). But when they called it the Nextel cup, it really showed how dumb the future sponsor names were. And when it was Sprint cup, I subconsciously mismatched Sprint cup with Sprint cars when hearing it on TV. Now that they got done with names and just call it NASCAR Cup Series, it certainly rings more true to driving/racing vs corporate sponsors.
No single moment but the start of the 96 season was my freshman year of college. My roommate and I were Ford guys, two guys across the hall were Chevy guys. We watched races with our doors open and would let each other know every lap if it was a Ford in front of a Chevy
Take me back to the full season points format. I hate this "down the last race" "when it matters" "win and in" "we need those stage points" gimmicky format. I want the *best all season* to hoist the crown now matter how big of a blow out it is. And yes, that means get rid of the stages too.
I agree. I think they could keep stage points IF it was a rolling stage. For example, don't throw the caution between stages. Just award the points and keep rolling. Maybe that would work. Maybe not but it's better than stopping pointlessly
@@jtpromolab I really just despise how easy it is to outscore the race winner in this format. Look at 2017 and count all the races where the winner scored the most points. Very rare. I like it better when the winner outscores everyone.
All it does is make the regular season pointless to watch and then you're not invested later in something you didn't watch up to that. You lose exponentially more people that tend to be real fans this way than casuals gained from playoffs forcing artificial entertainment. People that love big playoffs after long regular seasons are so incredibly dim in not understanding this in any sport
I've always thought that what brought on The Chase format wasn't because the championship was won a week early. It was because of who won it. If Dale Jr. or Bill Elliott had clenched it five weeks early, no one would've cared but because it was Matt Kenseth who won out because of season long consistency rather than a slough of individual wins, people took issue with it and called it boring. Well, because people wanted to cry about Matt Kenseth winning A championship, we got stuck with five straight years of Jimmie Johnson working the system to win. Boy, wasn't that fun 🙄
I was 2 years old when this happened so I started watching NASCAR during the Sprint era. I still watch NASCAR but my Dad is losing faith in them and so am I.
Bill Elliott is the only driver that would’ve finished that race in 8th spot with getting a flat tire in the first and second turns leading the race on the final lap. A lot of people don’t realize how good he really was because of how bad he struggled in a McDonald’s car.
