Of all the “field fillers” of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season, none endured a more difficult season than Andy Hillenburg and Hover Motorsports. But to say they struggled doesn’t mean they were inexperienced. For more than a decade, both driver and team had amassed several impressive accomplishments - particularly in the ARCA Menards Series, where the two first joined forces. Time and again, Hillenburg and Hover crossed paths – particularly on a certain one-mile oval in North Carolina---

SPECIAL THANKS
*Bryan Hallman at the BRH Racing Archives for his many photos
*Matt Mielke and NASCARMAN History for sharing their photos of Hover’s team

ARTICLES
*Campbell, Angela. “Andy Hillenburg: The Man behind Bringing NASCAR back to Rockingham Speedway,” Speedway Media, March 8, 2012. https://speedwaymedia.com/2012/03/08/andy-hillenburg-the-man-behind-bringing-nascar-back-to-rockingham-speedway/
*James, Brant. “NASCAR fills up on scrappy teams,” Tampa Bay Times, August 27, 2005. https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2004/03/14/nascar-fills-up-on-scrappy-teams/
*Laurence, Dave. “Underdog of the Week: Tony Ave,” RacingUnderdog.com, August 17, 2004; https://web.archive.org/web/20050529235406/http://www.racingunderdog.com/uotw/040817.htm
*Long, Dustin. “Ex-driver buys track at Rockingham,” Greensboro.com, October 2, 2007; https://greensboro.com/sports_professional/auto_racing/ex-driver-buys-track-at-rockingham/article_0de8f7f7-b8b2-56d3-b2ba-a2511abc8d11.html
*Newberry, Paul. “ ‘Indiana Andy’ Hillenburg finally in the 500,” May 25, 2000. http://indymotorspeedway.com/v1/00andy.htm
*Spencer, Lee. "Field fillers becoming dangerous," The Palm Beach Post, April 2, 2004.

UNCREDITED ARTICLES
“Boat qualifies with assist from Foyt,” Associated Press, May 21, 2000.
“Darlington field filler bites Gordon,” Motorsport.com, March 22, 2004.
“Field filler’s days numbered?” Crash.net, 2004.
“Gordon questions ‘field filler’ role after shunt,” Crash.net, 2004.
“IRL: Andy Hillenburg to drive for new team in Indy 500,” March 22, 2000. https://us.motorsport.com/indycar/news/irl-andy-hillenburg-to-drive-for-new-team-in-indy-500/1793514/

WEBSITES
*Fast Track High Performance Driving School, https://www.fasttrackracing.com/fast-track-racing-c66t
*Hover Race Cars, https://www.hoverracecars.com/

VIDEOS
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZQnMo0uMCH_8xEd6L0lHv-ug0IC_4A2

PHOTOS
*Al Messerschmidt
*Andy Hillenburg on Twitter
*AutoRacing1.com
*Big Al’s Photos
*Bryan Hallman, BRH Racing Archives
*Getty Images
*Jayski’s Silly Season Site
*Joel Bray
*Matt Mielke
*Motorsport.com
*@nascarcatholic
*NASCARMAN History
*Rand Thompson
*rare.nascar on Instagram
*Shutterstock
*The Racing Group