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Week of 11/20/05
Roush had odds, came up short
Despite having 5 of the 10 drivers in the Chase, Roush Racing came up 35 points short of their third championship in a row. His drivers still took 2nd-4th and 7 and 10th, had some controversy with Kurt Busch, but grabbed the race win at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Greg Biffle. November 22, 2005
Final Cup Point Standings - 2005
POINT STANDINGS | CUP SERIES
11 Jeff Gordon
10 Kurt Busch -559
9 Jeremy Mayfield -460
8 Rusty Wallace -393
7 Matt Kenseth -181
6 Ryan Newman -174
5 Jimmie Johnson -127
4 Mark Martin -105
3 Carl Edwards -35
2 Greg Biffle -35
1 Tony Stewart is the 2005 Nextel Cup Champion November 22, 2005
So close again for Johnson
Jimmie Johnson's championship hopes were blown from a rear tire on lap 127. Jimmie knew there was something wrong with is racecar, but didn't think it was a tire. The #48 team his been top 5 in the Cup standings every year since 2002 when they were 5th, two 2nd place finishes in 2003-04, and this year with a 5th. November 22, 2005
Homestead-Miami - Full Recap
Stewart's 15th place finish on a hair-raising afternoon gave him his second NASCAR championship, the third for car owner J.D. Gibbs.
Biffle passed Dave Blaney, Mark Martin and Casey Mears when a late-race caution bunched the field up once again on a sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy day and night. Martin made a valiant effort to pass his Roush Racing teammate on the final lap but Biffle held on to win by a fender. Martin wound up second. Another Roush Ford was third, former champion Matt Kenseth.
Roush driver Carl Edwards made his way from 12th to fourth but his storybook season came to an end after his three-win-in-a-row streak that made his name one of the better-known names in NASCAR.
Rounding out the top 10 were Casey Mears, Blaney, Kevin Harvick, four-time champion Jeff Gordon and Jeremy Mayfield.
Gordon clinched the 11th spot in Nascar's Nextel Cup Chase which is worth a million bucks, as are all the positions in the top 10.
Stewart's second title (his first was 2002) makes Gordon's check seem small. Stewart and his team will collect over $5 million dollars at the annual Nascar Awards Banquet in New York, Friday, Dec. 2.
It was not a walk in the park for Stewart's team this weekend, when bad weather scrambled the schedule and added to the pre-race jitters normally associated with the season finale.
Stewart spun during one of the rescheduled practice sessions and the team agonized over whether the engine had suffered any damage. The team felt the engine's over-rev during the spin might have been harmful but consultations involving team manager Jimmy Makar, crew chief Greg Zippadelli and engine builder Mark Conquist resulted in a decision not to change the engine.
Stewart started the race from the same number as Home Depot Chevrolet, 20, and maintained a spot near the top third of the field throughout.
Once the championship festivities were out of the way, Stewart put a fitting cap on his championship day..... He climbed the fence in front of the main grandstand and shook hands with the fans. November 20, 2005
Stewart is Champion, stats show why
Stewart wins Championship with amazingly solid, consistent, and winning season.
The Stats: 5 wins, 17 top 5's, 25 top 10's and only 1 DNF November 20, 2005
Biffle wins the race, Stewart is Champ
RACE RECAP | HOMESTEAD-MIAMI
10 Jeremy Mayfield
9 Jeff Gordon
8 Kevin Harvick
7 Ryan Newman
6 Dave Blaney
5 Casey Mears
4 Carl Edwards led the most laps
3 Matt Kenseth
2 Mark Martin
VICTORY LANE
1 Greg Biffle takes his 6th win of the season, back to back at Homestead, and finishes 2nd in points.
OTHER STORIES ON THE DAY
-Tony Stewart finished 15th in the race, but that was enough to claim the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Championship
-On lap 126 Jimmie Johnson's night and championship hopes were done from a flat rear tire.
-Jeff Gordon picked up another late season top 10 finish, ends up 11th on the season, grabs the $1 million pay-out and a trip to the stage at the NYC Awards Banquet. November 20, 2005
Johnson crashes due to blown tire, DNF
Jimmie Johnson
On the disappointment:
“What do you think, man? I lived my whole life for this. End up, you know, blowing a tire and being out, that’s part of it. But I’ll be back next year.”
On the tire problem:
“I had a feeling something was up. I mean, we knew that something was wrong. But the tire didn’t feel soft. I didn’t think it was a flat tire, but then going into turn three, when Jeff got to me, the right rear exploded and around it went. So we had a right rear tire problem. I’m not exactly sure why or what. But it wasn’t flat. It didn’t feel soft to me. It was out of control, but it wasn’t soft.” November 20, 2005
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