2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
With the egressing of both McMurray and Sterling Marlin from Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Casey Mears became the senior driver and moved to No.
44 Hendrick Motorsports second car following the Dickies 500 race in November in his home state at Texas Motor Speedway, where he finished 34th.
Even though he was classified as a rookie, Hamlin had qualified by winning the pole position for the Checker Auto Parts 500 held November 13, 2005 in Phoenix.
The weather dawned cloudy and cold for the 48th running of the "Great American Race", when Jeff Burton led the field to the green at 2:45 pm, which at the time was the latest scheduled start in the history of the race (the reason for this was that NBC chose it as its lead-in program to the primetime portion of its day's coverage of the Winter Olympic Games from Turin).
Carl Edwards, a popular "dark horse candidate" for the Nextel Cup championship, had his day end early, as he was involved in a five-car pileup on lap 80 that collected Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty, Jeff Green, J. J. Yeley and Joe Nemechek.
Stewart was penalized for aggressive driving after the incident with Kenseth, in which he blocked the No.17 car into the grass, causing it to spin and hit the wall in turn 3.
He took the lead with 10 laps to go just as the ninth caution flag came out for a crash involving Gordon, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, and Sterling Marlin.
The green-white-checkered finish ended when Casey Mears and Ryan Newman battled for second, leaving Johnson to take the victory.
95) Body styles and engines were the story for the second race of the Nextel Cup season, the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway on February 26.
In the third consecutive race to require a green-white-checkered finish, Jimmie Johnson blew past Matt Kenseth on the last corner of the day to get his 20th career victory and second of the season.
Kenseth looked like a good bet to cruise to victory before Denny Hamlin and Kenny Wallace wrecked three laps from the end, bunching the field and leading to the overtime finish.
92) There were no extra laps in race four of the Nextel Cup season, the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but there was an extra day, as rain showers forced the green flag to be moved to Monday, March 20 at 11 am Television coverage moved to cable's FX channel for the race (with some exceptions).
Despite a charge from Mark Martin, Kahne was not seriously challenged down the stretch and visited victory lane for the second time in his career.
Lap 188 saw the most notable wreck of the first half of the race, as Clint Bowyer spun Dave Blaney, causing a chain reaction that collected David Stremme, Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip and brought out a red flag to clean up.
The thirteenth race of the season, the Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America, was held at Dover International Speedway on June 4, 2006.
Denny Hamlin sat on pole and led 49 of the first 50 laps before crashing and coming back from 40th place to become the first rookie to win in 2006.
Because of a strategy call by his crew chief with three laps to go Said led the race but Tony Stewart got by Said for the win just before the white flag waved.
Jimmie Johnson came back from 38th place to become the second driver to win both the Daytona 500 and the Allstate 400 in the same season, first accomplished by Dale Jarrett in 1996.
23) The twenty-sixth and final race prior to the Chase, the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 was held at Richmond International Raceway on September 9, 2006.
Richmond-area native Denny Hamlin won the pole in front of his hometown fans, and clinched a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
Brian Vickers won his first Nextel Cup race when he was declared the winner after he, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. made contact on the final lap.
61) Race number five on the 2006 Chase, and the halfway point of the playoff, the Bank of America 500, was held on Saturday, October 14, 2006, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
Scott Riggs won the pole, and Kurt Busch had his 3rd-place run disqualified due to an unapproved right rear shock absorber.
30) The seventh Chase event, the Bass Pro Shops 500 was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway, located in Hampton, Georgia, on October 29.
84) The ninth race on the Chase for the Nextel Cup, the Checker Auto Parts 500, was held at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona on November 12, 2006.
Juan Pablo Montoya, making his Nextel Cup debut, qualified 29th, but finished 34th after his car hit the wall after being clipped by Ryan Newman and caught fire on lap 251.
The battle for ROTY was not expected to be fierce, as many predicted that two time Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. would handily win the award, and possibly be a Chase contender.
However, this was not to be as Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin shocked the NASCAR world the previous year by winning his first career pole at Phoenix while driving a part-time schedule.
Hamlin again got everyone's attention by not only having won the Bud Shootout in his first attempt, but became the first rookie to sweep a racetrack (Pocono Raceway) since Jimmie Johnson accomplished that same feat at Dover.
NBC aired the Daytona 500 to officially start the season on February 19, with Fox/FX picking up coverage the following week in California up to the Pepsi 400 July 1.
