2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
[1] Joe Garone 1 The Budweiser Shootout was held on February 12, the Daytona International Speedway, Jimmie Johnson took the 70-lap night exhibition race from Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon.
Greg Biffle finally retook the lead on lap 228 and kept it to win the race ahead of Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch, with only 0.525 of a second separating the top three men.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Johnny Sauter (#09), Kevin Lepage (#37), Stanton Barrett (#92), Stan Boyd (#79), Carl Long (#00), Kirk Shelmerdine (#27) The Golden Corral 500 was held on March 20 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Randy LaJoie (#34), John Andretti (#14), Stanton Barrett (#92), Carl Long (#00), Kirk Shelmerdine (#27), Hermie Sadler (#66), Morgan Shepherd (#89) The Food City 500 was held on April 3 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Johnny Sauter (#09), Kevin Lepage (#37), Robby Gordon (#7), Randy LaJoie (#34), Brad Teague (#27), Jason Jarrett (#89) The Advance Auto Parts 500 was held on April 10 at Martinsville.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Stanton Barrett (#92), Jeff Fuller (#61), Kirk Shelmerdine (#27), Carl Long (#00) The Samsung/Radio Shack 500 was held on April 17 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Kevin Lepage (#37), Stanton Barrett (#92), Randy LaJoie (#34) The Subway Fresh 500 was a night race held on April 23 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Johnny Sauter (#09), Robby Gordon (#7), Tony Raines (#61), Morgan Shepherd (#89) The Chevy American Revolution 400 was a night race held on May 14 at Richmond International Raceway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Kevin Lepage (#37), Jeff Fuller (#34), Kirk Shelmerdine (#27), Carl Long (#00) The Nextel-All Star Challenge was a non-points night race held on May 21 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
The rest of the top-5 were Carl Edwards, Jeremy Mayfield, and Ryan Newman with notable mention given to Ken Schrader in 9th, his second top ten of 2005 which had spearheaded his boom to 26th in the points standings.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Jason Leffler (#11), Bobby Hamilton Jr. (#32), Hermie Sadler (#66), Boris Said (#36), Jeff Fuller (#34), Carl Long (#00), Tony Raines (#92), Mike Garvey (#75), Kirk Shelmerdine (#27), Greg Sacks (#13) The MBNA RacePoints 400 was held on June 5 at Dover International Speedway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Kirk Shelmerdine (#27), P. J. Jones (#34), Hermie Sadler (#80), Carl Long (#00) The Batman Begins 400 was held on June 19 at Michigan International Speedway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Eric McClure (#92), Derrike Cope (#79), P. J. Jones (#34), Morgan Shepherd (#89) The Dodge/Save Mart 350 was held on June 26 at Infineon Raceway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Brandon Ash (#02), Kevin Lepage (#37), Stanton Barrett (#92), Johnny Borneman III (#66), José Luis Ramírez (#52) The Pepsi 400 was held on July 2 at Daytona International Speedway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Mike Garvey (#66), Kenny Wallace (#00), Dan Pardus (#73), Morgan Shepherd (#89) The USG Sheetrock 400 was held on July 10 at Chicagoland Speedway, and it ended up being a story of tires.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Kenny Wallace (#92), Mike Garvey (#66), P. J. Jones (#34), Wayne Anderson (#75) The New England 300 was held on July 17 at New Hampshire International Speedway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Joey McCarthy (#34), Derrike Cope (#52), Wayne Anderson (#75), Hermie Sadler (#92) The Pennsylvania 500 was held on July 24 at Pocono Raceway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Morgan Shepherd (#89), Hermie Sadler (#92), Carl Long (#00), Derrike Cope (#52) The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was held on August 7 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Scott Pruett (#39), Chris Cook (#87), Tom Hubert (#27) The GFS Marketplace 400 was held on August 21 at Michigan International Speedway.
The race saw an unusually high number of drivers suffering from flat left-rear tires, including Jeff Green, Mike Bliss, Bobby Labonte, Kevin Harvick, and Stuart Kirby.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Carl Long (#00), Morgan Shepherd (#89), Stanton Barrett (#95), Mike Garvey (#66), Tony Raines (#37), Kirk Shelmerdine (#27) The MBNA NASCAR RacePoints 400 was held on September 25 at Dover International Speedway.
Several Chase for the Cup contenders had difficulties with tire problems that caused them to finish poorly, including Matt Kenseth (35th), Greg Biffle (13th), and Kurt Busch (23rd), who led the most laps in the race.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Morgan Shepherd (#89), Hermie Sadler (#92), Ryan McGlynn (#08), Joey McCarthy (#34) The UAW-Ford 500 was held on October 2 at Talladega Superspeedway.
On lap 19, Jimmie Johnson spun Elliott Sadler which caused a large wreck that also ended the day for Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Michael Waltrip, who was sent flipping twice across the track.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Robby Gordon (#7), Wayne Anderson (#61), Tony Raines (#37), Carl Long (#00), Greg Sacks (#13), Eric McClure (#34) The race held on October 15 at Lowe's Motor Speedway was delayed by the finish of the Southern California-Notre Dame college football game which was being broadcast on NBC by forty-five minutes and ended after midnight (EDT) because of the green-white-checkered finish rule.
Top Ten Results Failed to qualify: Boris Said (#36), Carl Long (#00), Jimmy Spencer (#50), Mike Garvey (#37), P. J. Jones (#92), Stanton Barrett (#95) The Subway 500 was held on October 23 at Martinsville Speedway.
Top 10 Finishers Failed to qualify: Chad Chaffin (#92), Joey McCarthy (#34), Carl Long (#00), Mike Garvey (#75), Morgan Shepherd (#89), Wayne Anderson (#61) The Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 was held October 30 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Top Ten Finishers Failed to qualify: Reed Sorenson (#39), Stuart Kirby (#51), P. J. Jones (#92), Johnny Sauter (#09), Robby Gordon (#7), Carl Long (#00) The Checker Auto Parts 500 was held November 13 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Top Ten Finishers Failed to qualify: Brandon Ash (#02), Bryan Reffner (#51), Mike Wallace (#4), Kevin Lepage (#66), Derrike Cope (#00), P. J. Jones (#92), Morgan Shepherd (#89) The Ford 400 was held November 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Top Ten Finishers Failed to qualify: Chad Chaffin (#92), Mike Garvey (#51), Derrike Cope (#00), Morgan Shepherd (#89), Carl Long (#80) (key) Bold - Pole position awarded by time.
