Sunday 13th April 2003

Jeff Gordon won the Virginia 500 from the pole at Martinsville Speedway after a late-race battle with Bobby Labonte. Gordon passed Labonte on Lap 487 and then went on to collect his 62nd (of 93) career victory. The race ended under caution after the No. 17 Ford of Matt Kenseth connected with teammate Kurt Busch with three laps left, bringing out the last off 11 yellows of the day. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had what appeared to be the dominant car late in the race (led three times for 195 laps), but when a lapped car knocked Earnhardt toward the wall on a Lap 443 restart, he dropped from second to fifth place.