2003 EA Sports 500

2003 EA Sports 500
Race details
Race 29 of 36 in the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
	2003 EA Sports 500 program cover, based on the cover for the NASCAR Thunder 2004 video game
Date	September 28, 2003
Official name	EA Sports 500
Location	Talladega, Alabama, U.S.
Course	Talladega Superspeedway
Course length	2.66 miles (4.28 km)
Distance	190 laps, 505.4 mi (813.2 km)
Scheduled distance	188 laps, 500.1 mi (804.833 km)
Average speed	156.045 miles per hour (251.130 km/h)
Attendance	170,000
Pole position
Driver	Elliott Sadler ;
Time	50.415 sec (189.943 mph, 305.684 km/h)
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon
Laps	47
Winner
No. 15	Michael Waltrip
Television in the United States
Network	NBC
Announcers	Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, Wally Dallenbach Jr.

Last updated April 11, 2025

The 2003 EA Sports 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on September 28, 2003, at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. It was the 29th race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Race report

For this race only, Jasper Motorsports switched from Ford to Dodge, taking advantage of their engine building partnership with Team Penske (who switched from Ford to Dodge that season). As a result, Ford terminated their factory support agreement with the team following the race.^[2]

One of the most notable moments of the race is when on lap 182, Elliott Sadler would come down and hit Kurt Busch's right side of Busch's car. Elliott's car would spin and fly into the air, doing a full flip before landing on its roof. The car would slide down the backstretch grass into Turn 3, then proceeded to flip onto the Turn 3 surface 4 and a half times, before finally landing on the wheels of the car. Sadler was unhurt.

Results

Source:^[1]^[3]
Fin	St	#	Driver	Sponsor	Make	Laps	Led	Status	Pts
1	18	15	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts	Chevy	188	16	running	180
2	38	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Budweiser	Chevy	188	3	running	175
3	11	20	Tony Stewart	Home Depot	Chevy	188	0	running	165
4	12	12	Ryan Newman	Alltel	Dodge	188	0	running	160
5	5	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont	Chevy	188	47	running	165
6	39	97	Kurt Busch	Lennox/Irwin Industrial Tools	Ford	188	11	running	155
7	30	29	Kevin Harvick	GM Goodwrench	Chevy	188	4	running	151
8	17	32	Ricky Craven	Tide	Pontiac	188	0	running	142
9	33	2	Rusty Wallace	Miller Lite	Dodge	188	11	running	143
10	23	09	Mike Wallace	Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts	Dodge	188	0	running	134
11	10	18	Bobby Labonte	Interstate Batteries	Chevy	188	2	running	135
12	34	31	Robby Gordon	Cingular Wireless	Chevy	188	4	running	132
13	9	9	Bill Elliott	Dodge Dealers, UAW	Dodge	188	2	running	129
14	20	22	Ward Burton	Caterpillar	Dodge	188	8	running	126
15	24	90	John Andretti	AOL 9.0	Chevy	188	0	running	118
16	2	42	Jamie McMurray	Havoline	Dodge	188	20	running	120
17	42	77	Dave Blaney	Jasper Engines & Transmissions	Dodge	188	0	running	112
18	13	43	Jeff Green	Cheerios, Yu-Gi-Oh!	Dodge	188	0	running	109
19	6	88	Dale Jarrett	UPS	Ford	188	0	running	106
20	19	23	Kenny Wallace	Stacker 2	Dodge	188	0	running	103
21	7	49	Ken Schrader	BAM Racing	Dodge	188	0	running	100
22	14	5	Terry Labonte	Kellogg's/got milk?, Winston Cup Victory Lap	Chevy	188	1	running	102
23	15	6	Mark Martin	Viagra	Ford	188	0	running	94
24	36	16	Greg Biffle	Grainger	Ford	187	0	running	91
25	27	25	Joe Nemechek	UAW-Delphi	Chevy	187	0	running	88
26	43	1	Jason Keller	Pennzoil	Chevy	187	0	running	85
27	28	01	Mike Skinner	USG Sheetrock	Pontiac	186	0	running	82
28	26	44	Christian Fittipaldi	Bugles	Dodge	186	0	running	79
29	25	98	Jason Jarrett	C.H.I. Overhead Doors	Ford	184	0	running	76
30	1	38	Elliott Sadler	M&M's	Ford	181	23	crash	78
31	29	74	Tony Raines	BACE Motorsports	Chevy	179	0	crash	70
32	40	99	Jeff Burton	Citgo	Ford	168	1	engine	72
33	37	17	Matt Kenseth	Smirnoff Ice Triple Black	Ford	158	1	engine	69
34	3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's	Chevy	157	15	engine	66
35	21	60	David Green	NetZero/Haas Automation	Chevy	150	0	crash	58
36	32	21	Ricky Rudd	Motorcraft	Ford	138	0	engine	55
37	8	41	Casey Mears	Target	Dodge	113	0	overheating	52
38	22	19	Jeremy Mayfield	Dodge Dealers, UAW	Dodge	104	0	running	49
39	4	40	Sterling Marlin	Coors Light	Dodge	103	0	overheating	46
40	16	00	Buckshot Jones	Crown Fiber	Chevy	88	19	crash	48
41	41	10	Johnny Benson Jr.	Valvoline	Pontiac	29	0	crash	40
42	31	7	Jimmy Spencer	Sirius Satellite Radio	Dodge	11	0	crash	37
43	35	14	Larry Foyt	Harrah's	Dodge	9	0	crash	34
Failed to qualify or withdrew
POS	NAME	NBR	SPONSOR	OWNER	CAR
44	Kyle Petty	45	Georgia-Pacific	Petty Enterprises	Dodge
45	Kevin Lepage	4	Kodak	Larry McClure	Pontiac
46	Jason Leffler	0	NetZero Hi Speed	Gene Haas	Pontiac
47	Mike Bliss	80	Advair	Joe Gibbs	Chevrolet
48	Steve Park	30	America Online	Richard Childress	Chevrolet
49	Todd Bodine	54	National Guard	Travis Carter	Ford
WD	Morgan Shepherd	89	Racing With Jesus / Red Line Oil	Morgan Shepherd	Ford

References

1 2 "2003 EA Sports 500". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
↑ "Ford cuts ties with Jasper Motorsports after team uses Dodge". New Haven Register. October 3, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
↑ "2003 EA Sports 500 - The Third Turn". www.thethirdturn.com. Retrieved May 14, 2021.

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[Racing_Reference-1] 1 2 "2003 EA Sports 500". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 27, 2020.

[2] "Ford cuts ties with Jasper Motorsports after team uses Dodge". New Haven Register. October 3, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.

[3] "2003 EA Sports 500 - The Third Turn". www.thethirdturn.com. Retrieved May 14, 2021.

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2003 EA Sports 500

Contents

Race report

Results

References