The following NASCAR national series were held in 2004:
Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, 1963) is a professional race car driver, co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, and a published author. He is the younger brother of three-time NASCAR champion and racing commentator Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500; having won the race in 2001 and 2003. He is also a commentator for SPEED TV's coverage of the Camping World Truck Series and is an analyst on the Showtime series Inside NASCAR, along with Chris Myers, Brad Daugherty, and Randy Pemberton. He currently drives the No. 40 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry part-time and GT2 Ferrari for AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He also competed in the 2011 edition of 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Waltrip was born in Owensboro, Kentucky. He currently lives in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina.
Waltrip's stock-car career got off the ground in 1981, when he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at Kentucky Motor Speedway. A year later, Waltrip entered the Goody's Dash Series, where he won the series championship in 1983 and was voted the circuit's most popular driver in 1983 and 1984.
Anthony Wayne "Tony" Stewart (born May 20, 1971) is an American auto racing driver and owner. Throughout his racing career, Stewart has won titles in Indy cars and stock cars as well as midget, sprint and USAC Silver Crown cars, giving him the recognition of "one of the finest racers of his generation."
Stewart currently owns and drives the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1/Burger King Chevrolet Impala in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for his own team, Stewart-Haas Racing under crew chief Steve Addington. From 1999 until 2008, he drove the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car, under crew chief Greg Zipadelli, with The Home Depot as the primary sponsor. His ten year tenure with the same team, sponsor, and crew chief is a NASCAR record. Stewart is also the only driver to win both the Winston Cup under the old points system and the Nextel Cup under the chase playoff format, winning those championships in 2002 and 2005 respectively. In 2011, Stewart became the first owner-driver since Alan Kulwicki to win the Cup Series championship, which ended Jimmie Johnson's streak of consecutive championships at five. He is the only driver to win the NASCAR championship under three different sponsorship titles (Winston in 2002, Sprint Nextel in 2005, and 2011) as well as being the only driver in history to win a championship in both IndyCar and NASCAR. He is also the first driver in Cup to win the championship by virtue of a tie breaker (number of wins during the season is the first level tie breaker, Stewart had 5 while eventual runner up Carl Edwards had 1).
Kasey Kenneth Kahne ( /ˈkeɪn/; born April 10, 1980) is a NASCAR driver. He drives the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Group/Quaker State Chevrolet Impala for Hendrick Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series and drives a limited schedule for Turner Motorsports in the Nationwide Series, driving their #38 Great Clips Chevrolet Impala.
Off the track, Kahne is active in charitable work and is a member of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. He also owns his own race team, Kasey Kahne Racing, that competes in the World of Outlaws series, fielding two cars, one for Joey Saldana, and the other for Cody Darrah. His team also fields a car in the USAC Sprint Car Series for Brady Bacon, and in USAC midgets for Brad Sweet. Kahne is a two-time Skagit Speedway winner of the Annual Jim Raper memorial Dirt Cup (2002 and 2003), and holds the current record for the fastest lap at Skagit.
Kahne began racing open wheel sprint cars at Deming Speedway at 17 in Deming, Washington, before moving up to Skagit speedway in Alger, Washington, and then he moved to USAC. In 2001, Kahne made a trip to Pennsylvania where he won the season opener at the historic Williams Grove Speedway. He was hired by Steve Lewis, who had also employed future NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon, Jason Leffler, Tony Stewart, and Kenny Irwin, Jr. In his first year on the circuit, he was named Rookie of the Year, as well as winning the national midget championship. He continued to run USAC, as well as the Toyota Atlantic Series and the World of Outlaws.
Powerman 5000 (sometimes abbreviated to PM5K) is an American heavy metal band formed in 1991. Through the span of over two decades, the group has released several albums and gained their highest commercial success with 1999's science fiction themed Tonight the Stars Revolt!. Frontman Spider One is the younger brother of Rob Zombie, and their styles have often been a source for comparison. He is also the founder and only original member.
In 1991, Spider dropped out of art school, bought a cheap 4-track home studio and drum machine and recorded Much Evil with producer Lamar Lowder. Building on local success, Powerman 5000 was born. In 1993, longtime guitarist Adam 12 joined the band. In 1994 and 1995, Powerman released two independent records, True Force and The Blood Splat Rating System. Both albums were local successes. In 1996, they performed on the second stage of Ozzfest and appeared in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 where David and Donna filmed a music video for their song "Strike the Match".