The 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 57th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 34th modern-era Cup series. The season began on Saturday, February 12. The ten-race Chase for the Nextel Cup started with the Sylvania 300 on Sunday, September 18, and ended on Sunday, November 20, with the Ford 400.
The GEICO 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The race is usually held in April or May. The 1997 event stands as the fastest NASCAR race to date ever run with an average speed of 188.354 miles per hour (303.126 km/h) and was the first race at Talladega Superspeedway that was not interrupted by a caution period.
The YellaWood 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, hosting an event in the NASCAR playoffs. The race is one of four NASCAR Cup Series races currently run with tapered spacers, the others being the GEICO 500 in May, the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and the Daytona 500. Through 1996, this race was normally held in early August or late July. In 1997, it was moved to early October due to the uncomfortably hot summer temperatures, and sometimes unpredictable summertime thunderstorms in the Alabama area. In 2009, the race moved again, this time to November 1 as part of a realignment agreement with Atlanta and Fontana.
The 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 58th season of professional Stock car racing in the United States and the 35th modern-era NASCAR Cup series season. It was started at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 12 with the Budweiser Shootout and ended on Monday, November 20, with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Chase for the Nextel Cup began with the Sylvania 300 on Sunday, September 17, at New Hampshire International Speedway. This was the last full-time season with the Gen 4 car.
The 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 56th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 33rd modern-era Cup series season. The season began on Saturday, February 7, and ended on Sunday, November 21. Kurt Busch, who drove a Ford for Roush Racing, was the Nextel Cup champion. It would be the last time until 2012 that the championship would be won by someone other than Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson.
The 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 55th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 32nd modern-era Cup Series season. The season began on February 8 at the Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout and ended on November 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Ford 400. Despite only winning one race throughout the whole season, Matt Kenseth, driving the No.17 Ford for Roush Racing, was strongly consistent following the lone win, and was crowned the Winston Cup champion. His only win came in the third race of the 36 race season. Chevrolet took home the NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship after capturing 19 wins and 264 points over second-place finisher Dodge, who had nine wins and 203 points. Ford finished the year third with seven wins and 200 points, and Pontiac finished fourth with one win and 125 points.
The 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 54th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 31st modern-era Cup Series season. It began on February 10, 2002, at Daytona International Speedway, and ended on November 17, 2002, at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Tony Stewart, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, was declared as the Winston Cup champion. Bill Elliott won the 2002 NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award. He would win it for the 16th and final time in his career. He withdrew from the ballot after receiving the award. The NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship was captured by Ford after winning 14 events and gaining 245 points over second-place finisher Chevrolet, who had 10 wins and 211 points.
The 2004 Daytona 500, the 46th running of the event, was the first race of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. It was a race held on February 15, 2004, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The race was televised by NBC, with Allen Bestwick, 1975 race winner Benny Parsons, and Wally Dallenbach Jr. calling the action for the second time after the 2002 race. It was the first NASCAR Nextel Cup race to air in high definition.
The 2009 Daytona 500, the 51st running of the event, was held on February 15, 2009, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida as the first points-paying race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and the last 500 of the 2000s decade. The race was won by Matt Kenseth, making a car numbered 17 winning the race for the first time in 20 years since Darrell Waltrip's win back in 1989 and the first Daytona 500 win for Roush Fenway Racing. The race was called off with 48 laps to go after a severe rainstorm that had been lingering throughout the area hit the track.
The Big One is a phrase describing any crash usually involving five or more cars in NASCAR, ARCA, and IndyCar racing. It is most commonly used at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, although occasionally seen at other tracks as well, such as Dover Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International.
The 2009 Aaron's 499 was the ninth race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. With a distance of 500.8 miles (806.0 km), it was held on April 26, 2009 at the 2.66 miles (4.28 km) Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Fox Sports broadcast the race starting at 1 PM EDT, with MRN and Sirius XM Radio carrying the radio broadcast over the air and on satellite respectively. The race had nine cautions, 25 different leaders, and 57 lead changes, the most lead changes of the season up until that point.
The 2010 Aaron's 499 was the 9th race of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, and the first of two Sprint Cup races held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. It started at 1 p.m. EDT on April 25, 2010. The race was televised on Fox and was also broadcast on MRN Radio at 12 p.m. After Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman previous crash, officials decided that they would change from the rear wing to the rear spoiler which debuted in the 2010 Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500. The race, which was extended by 12 laps, shattered numerous NASCAR records: it marked the first time under the modified green-white-checkered finish rules that a race had gone to the maximum three attempts allowed. There were eight caution flags, a record-setting 29 different leaders and a record-setting 88 lead changes. Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress Racing won the race, his first win of the season and his first since the 2007 Daytona 500, while the Earnhardt-Ganassi teammates of Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya finished second and third.
The 2011 Aaron's 499 was the eighth race of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season out of thirty six total races. The race was held on April 17 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Jeff Gordon won his 70th pole position, leading a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the top four starting positions. Nearly the entire race, in similar fashion to the 2011 Daytona 500, was marked by the prevalence of 2-car drafting. On the last lap, four 2-car drafting teams contended for the win, and all eight cars finished within about three car-lengths of each other. Johnson, pushed by Earnhardt, won the race by .002 seconds over Clint Bowyer, the 2010 fall race winner at the track.
The 2012 Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on October 7, 2012 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, United States. Contested over 188 laps on the 2.66-mile (4.3 km) asphalt tri-oval, it was the thirtieth race of the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season, as well as the fourth race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, which ends the season.
The 2002 Aaron's 499 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that was held April 21, 2002, at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. won the race, his first of the season and the second of his four straight wins at Talladega. His teammate Michael Waltrip finished second and Kurt Busch finished third.
The 2002 EA Sports 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car race held on October 6, 2002, at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama.
The 2006 UAW-Ford 500 was a stock car race that took place on October 8, 2006. The 38th annual running of the event, it was held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, before 160,000 spectators; the 188-lap race was the 30th in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the fourth in the ten-race, season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. Brian Vickers of Hendrick Motorsports won the race; Kasey Kahne finished second, and Kurt Busch came in third.
The 2005 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race held on March 13, 2005 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. Contested at 267 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) speedway, it was the 3rd race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports won the race.
The 2005 UAW-Ford 500 was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race that took place on October 2, 2005 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. It was the 29th race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the third in the ten-race, season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. Dale Jarrett of Robert Yates Racing would win the race.
The 2005 Aaron's 499 was the 9th race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, held on May 1, 2005, at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The race was won by Jeff Gordon, who led 139 laps of the 194 lap race.
