Bakersfield, CA (11/06/04  Dan Holtz knew he had trouble when he came in from Southwest Tour practice at Phoenix International Raceway on Thursday and there was water pouring from his engine. The Thompson Motorsports Team had to thrash like crazy to pull that motor and put in the back-up motor. They barely got the job finished in time for qualifying. After they finished putting the motor in they had about 5 minutes to make it out for qualifying. They literally ran the car through the scales to get in line. Holtz ended up qualifying 29th. Right after the start of the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series Cruise America "150" Holtz started picking his way through the field. Holtz said," To make my car fast I had to take her in deep and let her slide out." While running hard he avoided numerous crashes and passed 17 cars to finish in 12th place to win the "Hard Charger Award." Dan Holtz finished 18th in the Southwest Series Championship with 1 top 5 and 4 top 10's.