A 293-lap race at Darlington ended with Ricky Craven pulling alongside Kurt Busch on the final lap, a finish that was then the closest in the Cup Series since electronic scoring arrived.
The 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 was the fifth race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, held at Darlington on 16 March 2003. Ricky Craven won from 31st on the grid, beating Kurt Busch by 0.002 seconds, with Dave Blaney third. Earnhardt Jr. led 91 laps but finished sixth.
Ricky Craven won the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway by 0.002 seconds over Kurt Busch, after starting 31st. The finish came on the final lap of a 293-lap race that was the 100th NASCAR Cup Series event held at the track, and it was then the closest finish in the Cup Series since electronic scoring began in 1993.
When and where was the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 held?
The race was the fifth stock car race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, out of 36 in the season, and it was held on 16 March 2003 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. The race covered 644.121 km (400.238 miles) over 293 laps, and a crowd of 55,000 watched it.
Darlington is a four-turn, 2.198 km (1.366 mile) egg-shaped superspeedway. Its first two turns are banked at 25 degrees and the final two at 23 degrees, while the front stretch and back stretch are banked at three and two degrees respectively. The track began hosting NASCAR races in the 1950 Grand National Series.
The surface at Darlington is highly abrasive, and tyre wear was a major factor for every driver. Track position was the most important asset, because overtaking was difficult on the circuit and drivers had to watch their tyre degradation throughout the race.
Two drivers slid side by side to the line at Darlington, and the 0.002 second margin became the story of the Cup season's first spring.
Who were the favourites before the race?
Matt Kenseth led the Drivers Championship with 618 points, ahead of Tony Stewart on 569. Michael Waltrip and Jimmie Johnson were third and fourth with 543 and 519 points, and Bobby Labonte was fifth with 510 points.
In the manufacturers' table Ford led with 30 points, three ahead of Chevrolet. Dodge had 16 points and was one ahead of Pontiac in third. Sterling Marlin was the defending race champion.
Jeff Gordon arrived as a favourite, having won six Winston Cup races at Darlington. He said his team had led laps and battled hard at Atlanta without winning, and that the strong run would give the team momentum for the weekend.
Who won the pole, and how did qualifying go?
Elliott Sadler took his first career pole with a lap of 28.902 seconds, in his 146th race start. Ryan Newman joined him on the front row, and Jerry Nadeau qualified third, Jimmy Spencer fourth and Gordon fifth.
Forty-three drivers attempted to qualify on Friday afternoon, because that was the maximum number allowed to race. Each driver ran two timed laps to set the order from pole to 36th, and the rest of the field came in on provisionals.
Busch had held the pole until Sadler's lap, and later improvements dropped him to sixth. Ward Burton took seventh in the final minutes, Marlin eighth, Waltrip ninth and Todd Bodine tenth.
Seven others, among them Jeff Burton, Joe Nemechek and Brett Bodine, needed provisionals to make the race from 37th to 43rd. Sadler said afterwards that the pole had taken a great weight off his shoulders.
How did practice go before the race?
Three practice sessions were held: one on Friday morning that lasted 120 minutes, and two on Saturday morning of 45 minutes each. In the first session Elliott Sadler was fastest at 29.125 seconds, ahead of Labonte, Newman, Gordon and Kurt Busch.
On Saturday morning Nadeau was quickest in the second session at 29.496 seconds, ahead of Johnson, Bill Elliott, Stewart and Kenseth. Busch's engine failed during a slow lap, which limited his time on track. Later Kenseth led the final session at 29.379 seconds.
Towards the end of that final session, Waltrip's car struck an outside barrier at turn two after a cut tyre, and he switched to a back-up car. Kenseth's car also emitted smoke from an unsecured oil line, which his mechanics repaired.
How did the early laps unfold?
Newman passed Sadler for the lead in the first turn, but Sadler retook it on the approach to the same corner on the second lap. Nadeau overtook Newman for second on the third lap, and three laps later he lost control, spun 360 degrees and rejoined the field.
Jamie McMurray made contact with Kenseth as drivers went onto the apron, which caused Kenseth to spin and brought out the first caution. Sadler kept the front spot when racing resumed on the 10th lap, followed by Gordon, and four laps later Jack Sprague spun on the exit of turn four to bring out the second caution.
Spencer stayed out and led the restart on the 17th lap, but Earnhardt passed him for the lead going into the third turn on the next lap. The third caution came on the 23rd lap when Johnson made contact with Marlin, cutting his tyre and disabling his steering.
Marlin veered into an outside barrier on the backstretch, and a chain reaction followed that involved Labonte, Sprague, Todd Bodine, Harvick, Robby Gordon and Raines. Some of those cars were effectively eliminated from contention, while Harvick and Raines drove on with aerodynamic damage.
Stewart struck a trackside barrier on the 42nd lap and continued without major damage. On the 68th lap the fifth caution came out when Newman and Ward Burton raced each other in turn two, and Burton drifted into the side of Newman's car.
How did the middle laps change the leaders?
Earnhardt led Nadeau by five seconds by the 50th lap, while Martin and Busch had advanced to third and fourth. Earnhardt held the lead at the restart on the 75th lap, but a fractured oil casing forced Nadeau into the pits and out of contention.
Earnhardt built a lengthy advantage over Martin until slower traffic impeded him, which allowed Martin to pass him for the lead on the 117th lap. Green-flag pit stops began on the 121st lap, and Gordon passed Earnhardt for second on the 129th lap, the same lap Busch missed the entrance to pit road.
Martin made his pit stop on the 132nd lap and gave the lead to Gordon for a single lap. After the stops Martin regained the lead, with Gordon four seconds behind and Kenseth third. By the 169th lap Sadler had passed Kenseth and Gordon to move into second.
The sixth caution came on the 191st lap, after Spencer's right front corner touched Andretti's left rear wheel, leaving Andretti with a flat tyre. Andretti veered into an inside barrier and sustained damage, although he was uninjured.
How did the race reach its final restarts?
Gordon led the field at the 197th lap restart, and Martin made a brisk getaway to pass Sadler for second. Debris between the third and fourth turns brought out the seventh caution on the 237th lap, and several teams called their drivers in for final pit stops.
When the race restarted on the 242nd lap Gordon led Sadler, Busch, Craven and Blaney. Busch's power steering began to cut out from the 243rd lap, but he passed Sadler for second and began to duel Gordon for the lead.
On the 269th lap Gordon brushed the wall at turn two. Busch came alongside and, heading for the bottom lane in turn three, took the lead, and Gordon and Sadler then went into a trackside wall on the 273rd lap.
On the 283rd lap Gordon drifted up the track and hit a wall, and Kenny Wallace hit his car. Gordon entered pit road and retired from the race.
How did Craven pass Busch on the final lap?
With ten laps to go Busch's power steering failed, numbing his arms and making the car harder to handle. Craven caught him on the 291st lap and tried to pass on the inside before turn one, but Busch blocked him in a move that Dale Earnhardt had popularised at that corner.
Busch used his front bumper to push Craven as they came down the backstretch, and Craven followed him through turns three and four into the beginning of the final lap. Craven then drew alongside Busch at the exit of turn four, and both drivers slid without slowing and clattered into each other several times over the final 300 yards (270 m).
| Finish | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| First | Ricky Craven | PPI Motorsports, second career win, started 31st |
| Second | Kurt Busch | Roush Racing, 0.002 seconds behind |
| Third | Dave Blaney | Jasper Motorsports, his best career finish |
| Fourth | Mark Martin | Fourth place after recovering from a lug nut problem |
| Sixth | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Led 91 laps, the most of any driver |
| Eighth | Matt Kenseth | Eighth place |
The race took 3 hours, 10 minutes and 16 seconds, and Craven's average speed was 126.214 mph (203.122 km/h). There were seven yellow flag cautions and fifteen lead changes among eleven drivers. Craven led one single lap, and he won US$172,150.
How did drivers react to the finish?
After crossing the line Craven corrected his car and asked his crew who had won. He read the scoring pylon as he left turn two, and only then learned that he had succeeded. He drove to victory lane in front of a crowd of 55,000 people.
Craven said it was the most fun he had ever had, and that it was exactly what drivers dream of. Busch went to shake his hand, and said the finish was the coolest he had ever seen. Dave Blaney said his third-place result was huge for his confidence in the team.
Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus were called to meet Cup Series director John Darby after a collision with Marlin early in the race. Johnson admitted responsibility, saying he had lost traction and pinched Marlin into the wall. Gordon admitted fault for the lap 273 crash, and Sadler called his own driving a stupid mistake.
What did the result mean for the standings?
Kenseth kept the Drivers Championship lead with 703 points, ahead of Stewart in second. Waltrip stayed third, Earnhardt Jr. rose to fourth, and Craven moved from 16th to fifth. Busch advanced to sixth and Blaney to seventh.
In the manufacturers' table Ford kept the lead with 36 points, ahead of Chevrolet on 31, Pontiac on 24 and Dodge on 19, with 31 races left in the season.
Pontiac later overtook Dodge for third, and its win at Darlington was its last in the Winston Cup, because the marque withdrew from NASCAR at the end of the season.
How was the finish remembered afterwards?
Robin Miller of ESPN called the last two laps a sample of what auto racing is all about, and he compared the duel to the 1982 Indianapolis 500. Al Pearce of the Daily Press wrote of a marvellous stock car race, and David Poole of The Charlotte Observer said the finish would be talked about for years.
In December 2009 the race was voted the top NASCAR race of the decade by the media, and in 2023 it was named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Races. Darlington had been under threat of removal from the Cup Series at the time, which gave the finish extra significance.
