The 2004 UAW-GM Quality 500 was the 31st stock car race of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, the fifth race of the 2004 Chase for the Nextel Cup, and the 45th iteration of the event. The race was on Saturday, October 16, 2004, before a crowd of 140,000 in Concord, North Carolina, at Lowe's Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 334 laps to complete. At the race's end, Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports would take advantage of Kasey Kahne's bad luck at the end of the race, holding off the field on the final restart to win his 11th career NASCAR Nextel Cup Series win and his third of the season.^[1] To fill out the podium, Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. would finish second and third, respectively.

Lowe's Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.

Qualifying was held on Thursday, October 14, at 7:10 PM EST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap.^[2] Positions 1-38 would be decided on time, while positions 39-43 would be based on provisionals. Four spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The fifth is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champ needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points will be awarded a provisional.^[6]

Ryan Newman of Penske-Jasper Racing would win the pole, setting a time of 28.590 and an average speed of 188.877 miles per hour (303.968 km/h), setting a new track record.^[7]

Nine drivers would fail to qualify: Kenny Wallace, Derrike Cope, Mike Wallace, Carl Long, Kirk Shelmerdine, Larry Foyt, Hermie Sadler, Morgan Shepherd, and Geoff Bodine.

On the first lap of the race, a multi-car crash occurred in turn 1. It started when the 4th place start car in Scott Riggs when his car did not get up to speed going into turn 1. Riggs went up the track to move out of the way but Greg Biffle all of a sudden got hit from behind by John Andretti collecting Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Tony Raines, and Ken Schrader. Pole sitter Ryan Newman led the first lap of the race. The race got back going on lap 8 but the caution would be immeadeatly be thrown again when Jeff Fuller blew a tire and hit the wall in turn 1. The race got back going on lap 13 with Newman still leading and got some green flag laps. On lap 23, the third caution flew when Brian Vickers crashed hard on the front stretch after contact with Robby Gordon. The race would be red flagged for a short period of time to repair the outside SAFER barrier on the front stretch. During the caution, Dave Blaney was taken out of the #99 and Carl Edwards jumped in. After the red flag was lifted, Elliott Sadler won the race off of pit road and led the field to the restart on lap 31. On lap 42, Kasey Kahne took the lead on Sadler. On lap 76, the fourth caution flew when Jeff Gordon spun off of turn 4 and got hit again by Rusty Wallace. Kahne won the race off of pit road and lead the field to the restart on lap 81. The fifth caution would fly on lap 120 for debris. Kahne won the race off of pit road and lead on the restart on lap 125. Kahne would be passed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead. On lap 130, Kahne took the lead back. On lap 172, the 6th caution flew when Matt Kenseth blew a tire and hit the wall. Kahne won the race off of pit road and lead the field to green on lap 177. Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead from Kahne on the restart. On lap 180, Jimmie Johnson took the lead from Jr. On lap 187, Kasey Kahne took the lead back. On lap 210, the 7th caution flew for debris. Kahne lead the field on lap 215 for the restart. On the next lap, Mark Martin took the lead. Kahne took it back on lap 220. On lap 223, the 8th caution flew when Kevin Harvick's engine blew and laid fluid. It also caused other drivers to spin like Matt Kenseth, Jeremy Mayfield, and Carl Edwards where Edwards crashed out. Race restarted on lap 232 with Kasey Kahne leading.^[8]