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Kurt Busch Trumped Hendrick Motorsports Legend in NFL Level NASCAR Race

Published 11/22/2022, 12:00 PM EST

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The NASCAR Cup Series has been running for a very long time. Since its inception, the stock car series has gone from strength to strength. During that long tenure, there were plenty of iconic races that took place. In present times, such races would have brought in a stupendous number of ratings. Likewise, the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup finale was one such significant race, as it brought in a whopping 9.9 million viewers.

The best part was that it blew the NFL out of the water, with that month’s most-watched game drawing in 7.4 million. On ESPN, the most watched NFL game only brought in 8.4 million viewers. So, one has to wonder what was so special about the 2004 NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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How did the NASCAR Cup race at Homestead-Miami play out?

With three laps to go, disaster struck Ryan Newman as he hit the wall and ground against it. To make matters worse for him, he was leading the race at the time of the crash. Eventually, the race got underway once again, with Tony Stewart leading the pack. However, it did not last very long, as Greg Biffle swooped around the outside to snatch the lead.

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Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were also in the mix, with Kurt Busch hanging back. Johnson slotted into second place, and Gordon tried to follow him past Stewart. The leading four soon broke away from the pack, with Kurt Busch leading the second group. Truthfully speaking, he did not need to take any risks, because the fifth place was enough to seal the title.

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However, he had to be wary of any challenges from behind. In the end, though, Greg Biffle won the race ahead of Jimmie Johnson. Jeff Gordon was third, ahead of Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch in fourth and fifth, respectively. With that fifth-place finish, Busch successfully sealed his maiden NASCAR Cup Series title. Concurrently, he had the honor of being the first champion in the era of the Playoffs.

 

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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Edited by:

Akash Pandhare