2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Season: Stewart's Title Under the Chase

Tony Stewart won the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup championship for Joe Gibbs Racing, finishing 35 points clear of Greg Biffle after a season in which Stewart won five races before the playoff format took over. The first Chase for the Nextel Cup reset the standings in September, and the series ended with a Homestead finish that decided the title.

Who won the 2005 Nextel Cup championship?

Tony Stewart claimed the 2005 title in the number 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing. Stewart had five wins before the Chase, and he finished the championship 35 points ahead of Biffle, with Carl Edwards and Biffle tied for second. Those five wins all came before the playoff began.

Under the old non-Chase system Stewart would still have won the title, scoring 5,174 points in 36 races. He would have won by 220 points over Biffle, who would have finished second on points as well.

Stewart's five early wins and the reset standings set up a title that was decided by 35 points at Homestead.

How did the Chase reset the standings?

The ten-race Chase for the Nextel Cup began on September 18 at New Hampshire. Points were reset before it began, which left Stewart's lead at a five-point margin over the rest of the field, a sharp change from the 209-point gap he had carried into the final pre-Chase race.

Roush Racing had five of the ten Chase drivers: Biffle, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. Jeff Gordon failed to finish in the top 10 in points for the first time since his rookie season, and Jamie McMurray missed the Chase after a crash at Richmond.

The reset list ran from Stewart at 5050 down to Ryan Newman at 5005. Biffle was at 5045, Rusty Wallace at 5040, Jimmie Johnson at 5035, Kurt Busch at 5030, Martin at 5025, Jeremy Mayfield at 5020, and Edwards and Kenseth at 5015 each.

What changed in the cars and the calendar?

The 2005 season brought the Dodge Charger back to NASCAR for the first time since 1977, replacing the Intrepid in the Dodge line. Ford's Taurus was in its final year, with the Fusion due in 2006, and Darlington and North Carolina Speedway were dropped from the schedule in favour of new races at Texas and Phoenix.

Field sizes rose slightly, and the Daytona 500 grew from 45 cars to 56. A new rule let hard liquor brands sponsor race cars for the first time, and Roush Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports were among the first teams to sign such deals.

Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace had both announced that 2005 would be their final full seasons. Wallace kept that promise and retired at the end of the year, while Martin returned for 2006.

Chevrolet won the manufacturers' title with 17 wins and 259 points, ahead of Ford with 16 wins and 246 points. Dodge won three races, a much better record in the Busch Series, where it won 10 of 32.

Who won the early-season races?

Johnson won the Budweiser Shootout to open the season, and Jeff Gordon won the 47th Daytona 500, a race that Dale Jarrett had started from pole. Greg Biffle won the Auto Club 500 at California, and Carl Edwards took his first Cup win by .028 seconds over Johnson at Atlanta.

Kevin Harvick won at Bristol on April 3, ending a 55-race winless streak and giving Richard Childress Racing its first Cup win since Watkins Glen in 2003. Gordon rallied from three laps down to win at Martinsville, and Biffle led 219 of 334 laps at Texas.

Kurt Busch won the night race at Phoenix, where Clint Bowyer made his Cup debut for Richard Childress Racing and finished 22nd, and Gordon won the Aaron's 499 at Talladega, his 72nd career Cup win. The Big One at Talladega on lap 132 involved 25 cars. Biffle won at Darlington, and Kasey Kahne finally won his first Cup race at Richmond after six second-place finishes.

What made the Coca-Cola 600 memorable?

Johnson won the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's, his third straight win in the race, after passing Bobby Labonte on the final lap. The race had a record 22 caution flags.

At Richmond in May, Johnson crashed out on lap 81 and finished 40th, while Gordon had similar trouble on lap 165 and finished 39th, losing second place in the standings to Biffle.

Which summer races shaped the title race?

Biffle won at Dover in June, and afterwards he famously backed his car into the front stretch wall during his burnout. Carl Edwards won at Pocono on June 12, and Tony Stewart won at Infineon in late June, after Gordon set a qualifying record of 1:15.950.

Stewart then won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona on July 2, leading a record 151 of 160 laps, and climbed the fence afterwards. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Chicagoland, and Stewart won again at New Hampshire, leading 232 of 300 laps and repeating the fence climb.

Kurt Busch won the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono on July 24, with Rusty Wallace second.

How did Stewart take the points lead?

Stewart won the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on August 7, in front of his home state crowd in Indiana, and the win gave him the Nextel Cup points lead for the first time that season. Johnson crashed out late in that race, and Stewart's result put him ahead in the standings.

A week later Stewart won at The Glen, beating road-course specialists Robby Gordon, Boris Said and Scott Pruett. It was his fifth Cup win in seven races. Scott Pruett had stood in for Sterling Marlin that weekend, as Marlin was attending his father Coo Coo's funeral, and the momentum carried Stewart into the Chase.

What were the late-season winners and penalties?

Jeremy Mayfield won the GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan on August 21 by gambling on fuel mileage, and it turned out to be his final Cup win. Matt Kenseth won the Sharpie 500 at Bristol from pole, leading 415 of 500 laps.

Kyle Busch's first Cup victory came at the Sony HD 500 in California on September 4. He was 20 years and 4 months old, the youngest winner in the series' history to that date, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a blown engine 38 laps from the finish.

Kurt Busch won the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at Richmond on September 10, the final race before the Chase. The first Chase race, the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire on September 18, was won by Ryan Newman and marked by penalties, after Robby Gordon was fined $35,000 and docked 50 points for two incidents.

Johnson won at Dover on September 25, moving into the Chase lead, with Kyle Busch second. Dale Jarrett won at Talladega on October 2, the final career win for Robert Yates Racing. Mark Martin won at Kansas on October 9, the final Roush Racing win of his career, and Johnson won his fourth straight race at Lowe's on October 15.

Carl Edwards won the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta and the inaugural Dickies 500 at Texas, and Kyle Busch took the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix on November 13. Stewart left Phoenix with a 52-point lead over Johnson.

Why did Homestead decide the title?

Stewart had entered the Ford 400 with the points lead, and Edwards, Biffle and Johnson each still had a mathematical chance to overtake him. Biffle won the Ford 400 at Homestead on November 20, and Roush Racing swept the top four finishing positions, the first team to do so since 1957. Johnson crashed out with a blown tire at lap 127, ending his title hopes, and Stewart finished 15th.

That was enough for Stewart, who clinched the championship by 35 points over Biffle and Edwards. Rusty Wallace made his final career start in the race, retiring with 55 wins, and Ricky Rudd ended a streak of 788 consecutive starts that had begun in 1980.

Selected 2005 race winners