IROC XXVIII - 2004

The International Race of Champions was an auto racing competition, featuring identically-prepared stock cars set up by a single team of mechanics, in an effort to make the race purely a test of driver ability. It was run with a small field of invited drivers (6-12) from all the major racing series including NASCAR, SCCA, FIA and USAC. Over the years CART and the IRL drivers, among others also participated.   IROC - (1974-2006) Main Page IROC - (1974-2006) Champions

IROC XXVIII - 2004

It was a storybook season for the 28th running of the International Race of Champions with 2004, undoubtedly being touted as the most evolutionary season in the series’ history.

It all started in January with the announcement of Diageo brand, Crown Royal as new entitlement sponsor, the series went on to list out various other changes including:

•Three new race venues: Texas Motor Speedway (race two), Richmond International Raceway (race three), Atlanta Motor Speedway (race four).
•Races running under the lights three out of the four events: Daytona, Texas, Richmond.
•A shootout element in each race: The unique race format change incorporates a predetermined competition yellow, which pays bonus points to the top three positions. For the restart, the field realigns with the leader in a single row. The remainder of the field, in order of position, forms double file rows with each driver having lane choice.
•A new approach to the look of the race cars: Car colors and numbers, when feasible, resemble those of the driver’s native series team and stay with the driver throughout the four races.
•Restructuring the purse to award $1 million to the series champion.
•New broadcast partner, SPEED Channel, televising three of the four races live with the fourth race being a same-day broadcast.

Per tradition, the Inaugural Crown Royal IROC opener took place in February at Daytona International Speedway, but the tradition ended there with the race running for the first time under the lights, just adding to all the action and excitement Daytona provides.

The crowd was never in their seats cheering as they watched Ryan Newman dicing with Kurt Busch coming to the stripe in the final lap. Newman edged out the defending IROC champion and garnered his firs series win, but not without controversy. Newman and Busch nearly collided coming into the tri-oval resulting in Newman's tires going below the yellow line before he completed the winning pass. Officials declared the out-of-bounds incident as unintentional and unavoidable without causing a wreck and awarded Newman his first career IROC trophy.

The series continued live, under the lights in April at Texas Motor Speedway with Danny “the dude” Lasoski capturing his first series victory and becoming only the second driver representing short track open wheel racing to do so. Lasoski’s popular win over the best in NASCAR and open wheel reverberated throughout the remainder of the season, along with his unique celebratory burnout, which was etched into the memories of everybody watching. Lasoski planted the nose of his #20 orange Crown Royal IROC car up against the fence under the flag stand and floored it, filling the place with smoke as he took his winning Goodyear Eagle Radials down to the cords.

Race three introduced the first short track event in the history of the series with Richmond International Raceway hosting its first Crown Royal IROC event.
In another first, series rookie, Matt Kenseth dominated the show taking his first IROC win, which put him back in the championship running after an early retirement in race two at Texas.

Entering the Atlanta finale the new race format and corresponding bonus points implemented in February 2004 had produced the closest points battle in the history of the series with only 13-points separating the top-five spots and seven of the twelve drivers in contention for the championship.

Ryan Newman led by four-points over tying second spot drivers, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson with a total of seven drivers in the hunt for the first $1 million Crown Royal IROC championship.

The racing action was plentiful with passing for position lap after lap. The championship battle went right down to the checker flag with Matt Kenseth winning by 0.257 second over Ryan Newman, claiming his second consecutive series race win and taking the first $1 million Crown Royal IROC championship, all in his rookie year of IROC competition.

Being in the right place at the right time summed it up for Kenseth, who was in position and collected two bonus points for being in second place at the lap 45 competition yellow and picked up an additional three bonus points at the conclusion of the race for leading second most laps. If not for Kenseth's five bonus points Newman, finishing second, would have won the $1 million dollar championship by virtue of the tiebreaker, having the best average finish over all four races. (from IROC Website)

Final Points
IROC 28 Champion Matt Kenseth
Position	Driver/Sanction	Points	Money Earned
1	Matt Kenseth/NASCAR NEXTEL Cup	72	$1,000,000.00
2	Ryan Newman/NASCAR NEXTEL Cup	67	$80,000.00
3	Kevin Harvick/NASCAR NEXTEL Cup	55	$80,000.00
4	*Jimmie Johnson/NASCAR NEXTEL Cup	54	$80,000.00
5	*Kurt Busch/NASCAR NEXTEL Cup	54	$80,000.00
6	Danny Lasoski/World of Outlaws	51	$80,000.00
7	Scott Sharp/IRL IndyCar™ Series	32	$80,000.00
8	Travis Kvapil/NASCAR Craftsman Truck	31	$80,000.00
9	Helio Castroneves/IRL IndyCar™ Series	28	$80,000.00
10	*Scott Dixon/IRL IndyCar™ Series	26	$80,000.00
11	*Steve Kinser/World of Outlaws	26	$80,000.00
12	J. J. Yeley/USAC	20	$80,000.00

 

Race One

February 13, 2003

Daytona International Speedway

Daytona Beach, Florida

2.5-mile high-banked oval, 40 laps, 100 miles

FINISH	START	CAR	NAME	LAPS	STATUS
1	1	12	Ryan Newman	40	Running
2	8	97	Kurt Busch	40	Running
3	5	17	Matt Kenseth	40	Running
4	2	48	Jimmie Johnson	40	Running
5	4	11	Steve Kinser	40	Running
6	12	03	Helio Castroneves	40	Running
7	9	29	Kevin Harvick	40	Running
8	10	1	Scott Dixon	40	Running
9	6	8	Scott Sharp	40	Running
10	7	24	Travis Kvapil	40	Running
11	11	80	J.J. Yeley	40	Running
12	3	20	Danny Lasoski	40	Running

Race Three

September 9, 2004

Richmond International Raceway

Richmond, VA

.75-mile oval, 90 laps, 67.5 miles.

FINISH	START	CAR	NAME:	LAPS:	STATUS:
1	4	17	Matt Kenseth	90	Running
2	11	12	Ryan Newman	90	Running
3	8	97	Kurt Busch	90	Running
4	9	48	Jimmie Johnson	90	Running
5	12	29	Kevin Harvick	90	Running
6	3	8	Scott Sharp	90	Running
7	1	80	J.J. Yeley	90	Running
8	6	03	Helio Castroneves	90	Running
9	2	1	Scott Dixon	90	Running
10	10	20	Danny Lasoski	90	Running
11	5	24	Travis Kvapil	90	Running
12	7	11	Steve Kinser	38	Mechanical

Time of Race: 45min. 55 sec.

Average Speed: 88.219mph

Margin of Victory: 2.759 seconds

Caution Flags: 1

Lead Changes: 1

Lap Leaders: 1-5 Sharp, 6-90 Kenseth

Race Four

October 30, 2004

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Hampton, GA

1.5-mile oval, 65 laps, 97.5 miles

FINISH	START	CAR	NAME:	LAPS:	STATUS:
1	10	17	Matt Kenseth	65	Running
2	11	12	Ryan Newman	65	Running
3	6	20	Danny Lasoski	65	Running
4	7	97	Kurt Busch	65	Running
5	3	24	Travis Kvapil	65	Running
6	9	48	Jimmie Johnson	65	Running
7	8	29	Kevin Harvick	65	Running
8	12	1	Scott Dixon	65	Running
9	2	11	Steve Kinser	65	Running
10	5	8	Scott Sharp	65	Running
11	4	03	Helio Castroneves	25	Accident
12	1	80	J.J. Yeley	25	Accident

Time of Race: 59min. 29 sec.

Average Speed: 100.983mph

Margin of Victory: .257 seconds

Caution Flags: 2 - Competition Yellow Thrown at Lap 45

Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders: 1 Kinser, 2-6 Busch, 7-52 Harvick, 53-65 Kenseth