in 2004, hamlin raced in five nascar craftsman truck series (ncts) races with the team ejp racing. he finished tenth in his first race, at indianopolis raceway park. he ran his first arca re/max series race at talladega superspeedway, finishing third in the #10 pontiac owned by andy hillenburg. his last start of the year came at darlington raceway, when he started his first busch series race. he started twenty-seventh but finished eighth in the #18 joe gibbs driven performance oil chevrolet.