2003 Sylvania 300

November 2024 February 2025 CUST Race 27 of 36 in the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season Sylvania 300 2003 09 14 2003 27 36 New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire 1.058 1.702 300 317.4 510.805 106.58 mi/h Ryan Newman Penske Racing Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. 120 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports TNT Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, & Wally Dallenbach Jr. The 2003 Sylvania 300 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on September 14, 2003 at New Hampshire International Speedway, in Loudon, New Hampshire. Contested over 300 laps on the 1.058 mile (1.702 km) speedway, it was the 27th race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports won the race.https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram/158286582/ Johnson relishes victory Mike Harris Fort Worth Star-Telegram September 15, 2003 November 2, 2024 44 Newspapers.com Background New Hampshire International Speedway is a 1.058 mi on oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as an IndyCar weekend and the oldest motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6 mi on road course, which includes much of the oval. The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports. Summary This race marked the last time that the long-standing NASCAR rule of racing back to a yellow caution flag was in place. During the race, Dale Jarrett spun and hit the wall in turn 4 and came to rest in the middle of the racetrack's front stretch. Leaders slowed down except Michael Waltrip, who attempted to put several cars a lap down; he and others raced past Jarrett's immobilized car at full speed and some barely avoided contact with him. Beginning with the next race, the MBNA America 400 at Dover, in addition to other rule changes for the Cup, Busch, and Truck series, NASCAR outlawed racing back to the caution. Instead, NASCAR froze the field immediately at the caution and allowed the first car one lap down (or multiple laps down, if there were no cars one lap down) to rejoin the lead lap; this is officially called the "free pass" by NASCAR but is widely known by fans and journalists as the "lucky dog" rule, due to Aaron's sponsoring the free pass on television broadcasts for a number of years. Results Pos No. Car number Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Laps led Status 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 300 12 Running 2 21 Ricky Rudd Wood Brothers Racing Ford 300 26 Running 3 25 Joe Nemechek Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 300 0 Running 4 9 Bill Elliott Evernham Motorsports Dodge 300 55 Running 5 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 300 120 Running 6 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing Dodge 300 0 Running 7 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Racing Ford 300 7 Running 8 38 Elliott Sadler Robert Yates Racing Ford 300 0 Running 9 12 Ryan Newman Penske Racing Dodge 300 47 Running 10 42 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 300 0 Running 11 19 Jeremy Mayfield Evernham Motorsports Dodge 300 0 Running 12 1 John Andretti Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 300 0 Running 13 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 300 9 Running 14 77 Dave Blaney Jasper Motorsports Ford 299 0 Running 15 97 Kurt Busch Roush Racing Ford 299 0 Running 16 18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 299 0 Running 17 41 Casey Mears Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 299 0 Running 18 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 299 0 Running 19 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 299 1 Running 20 20 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 299 0 Running 21 31 Robby Gordon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 299 4 Running 22 01 Mike Skinner MB2 Motorsports Pontiac 299 0 Running 23 7 Jimmy Spencer Ultra Motorsports Dodge 299 0 Running 24 27 Scott Wimmer Bill Davis Racing Dodge 299 0 Running 25 10 Johnny Benson Jr. MB2 Motorsports Pontiac 299 0 Running 26 15 Michael Waltrip Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 299 18 Running 27 0 Jason Leffler Haas CNC Racing Pontiac 298 0 Running 28 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 298 0 Running 29 40 Sterling Marlin Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 298 0 Running 30 45 Kyle Petty Petty Enterprises Dodge 298 0 Running 31 43 Christian Fittipaldi Petty Enterprises Dodge 298 0 Running 32 4 Johnny Sauter Morgan–McClure Motorsports Pontiac 297 0 Running 33 74 Tony Raines BACE Motorsports Chevrolet 297 0 Running 34 30 Steve Park Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 297 1 Running 35 54 Todd Bodine BelCar Racing Ford 296 0 Running 36 23 Kenny Wallace Bill Davis Racing Dodge 295 0 Running 37 49 Ken Schrader BAM Racing Dodge 292 0 Running 38 32 Ricky Craven PPI Motorsports Pontiac 291 0 Running 39 22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Dodge 270 0 Crash 40 02 Hermie Sadler SCORE Motorsports Pontiac 179 0 Engine 41 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 159 0 Crash 42 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 117 0 Engine 43 16 Greg Biffle Roush Racing Ford 108 0 Engine Source:https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2003_Sylvania_300/W 2003 Sylvania 300 December 26, 2025 racing-reference.info NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Failed to qualify Derrike Cope (#37) Carl Long (#46) Larry Foyt (#50) Morgan Shepherd (#89) Rich Bickle (#79) (withdrawn) Race Statistics Time of race: 2:58:41 Average Speed: 106.58 mph Pole Speed: 133.357 mph Cautions: 6 for 38 laps Margin of Victory: 6.240 sec Lead changes: 20 Percent of race run under caution: 12.7% Average green flag run: 37.4 laps Lap leaders Laps Leader 1–45 Ryan Newman 46–83 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 84–85 Michael Waltrip 86 Jimmie Johnson 87–88 Matt Kenseth 89 Robby Gordon 90 Steve Park 91–126 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 127 Ryan Newman 128–146 Bill Elliott 147 Ryan Newman 148–183 Bill Elliott 184–229 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 230–255 Ricky Rudd 256–271 Michael Waltrip 272–275 Jimmie Johnson 276 Jeff Gordon 277–285 Kevin Harvick 286–290 Matt Kenseth 291–293 Robby Gordon 294–300 Jimmie Johnson Total laps led Laps led Driver 120 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 55 Bill Elliott 47 Ryan Newman 26 Ricky Rudd 18 Michael Waltrip 12 Jimmie Johnson 9 Kevin Harvick 7 Matt Kenseth 4 Robby Gordon 1 Jeff Gordon 1 Steve Park Cautions: 6 for 38 laps Laps Reason 127–138 Debris 148–151 #22 (W. Burton) accident turn 1 156–159 #31 (R. Gordon) spin backstraight 162–171 #88 (Jarrett) accident turn 4 184–187 Oil on track 196–199 #20 (Stewart) accident turn 2 References Sylvania 300 Sylvania 300 Category:NASCAR races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Category:September 2003 sports events in the United States