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 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 2006 Daytona 500 was the first stock car race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. The 48th Daytona 500 was held on February 19, 2006, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, before 200,000 spectators. Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson, won the 203-lap race after starting ninth. Chip Ganassi Racing's Casey Mears and Penske Racing South's Ryan Newman finished second and third, respectively.
The 2008 Daytona 500, the 50th annual running of the event, was held on February 17, 2008 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The race was the 50th to be run since the first in 1959, won by Lee Petty. To commemorate the event, the Harley J. Earl Trophy, which goes to the winner of the race, was plated in gold instead of silver. In addition, the winning car was placed on display for one year at the Daytona 500 Experience attraction just outside Turn Four. Ryan Newman won the race, his only win in the 2008 season and his final win for team owner Roger Penske.
The 2005 Daytona 500, the 47th running of the event, was held on February 20, 2005, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida as the first race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. Dale Jarrett won the pole and Jeff Gordon won the race, making this his third Daytona 500 win. Kurt Busch finished second and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third.
The 2007 Allstate 400 at The Brickyard, the 14th running of the event, was the twentieth race of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season and the first of the season that was televised by NASCAR on ESPN. It was held on July 29, 2007 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.
The 2009 Auto Club 500 was the second race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. the 500 miles (800 km) race occurred on February 22, 2009, at the 2 miles (3.2 km) Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, 60 miles (97 km) from Los Angeles and was one of the cleanest races in the history of the track with only one caution for an on track incident out of all 250 laps. Fox broadcast the race beginning at 5 pm US EST with radio coverage on MRN (terrestrial) and Sirius XM Radio (satellite) starting at 5:15 pm US EST. The race started at 3 pm local time, and run into prime time, counterprogramming against the Academy Awards.
The 2004 Pepsi 400 was the 17th race of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. It was held on July 3, 2004 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports won the race from the pole position and also led the most laps.
The 2005 Pepsi 400 was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series event held on July 2, 2005, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 160 laps, Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet, won the race from the pole position, and led the most laps.
The 2013 Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on July 6, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 161 laps, it was the eighteenth race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports won the race, his fourth win of the season and his first Coke Zero 400 win, rendering him the first driver since Bobby Allison in 1982 to sweep the Daytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 in the same year. Tony Stewart finished second while Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, and Michael Waltrip rounded out the top five.
The 2005 Coca-Cola 600, the 46th running of the race, was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race held on May 29, 2005, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. The race was the twelfth of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. The pole position was won by Penske Racing's Ryan Newman, while the race was won by Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports in a fantastic finish against Bobby Labonte. The race featured the most caution flags in Cup history at 22 cautions for 103 laps, as well as the most lap leaders (21) in track history.
The 2004 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series stock car race held on October 31, 2004 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 325 laps, the race was the 33rd of the 36-race 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. Ryan Newman of Penske-Jasper Racing won the pole, while Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports won the race. Roush Racing teammates Mark Martin and Carl Edwards finished second and third, respectively. This was also 2017 Cup Series Champion Martin Truex Jr.'s First Cup Series Start
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.
The 2006 Budweiser Shootout was the first exhibition stock car race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was postponed to Sunday, February 12, 2006 from the originally scheduled date of February 11 due to rain. The race was held in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway, before a crowd of 60,000. The race was extended from 70 laps to 72 due to a green–white–checker finish. At race's end, rookie Denny Hamlin, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing would pass teammate Tony Stewart on the final restart and hold off the field to pull off a stunning victory in the shootout, the first Budweiser Shootout win of his career. To fill out the podium, Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Tony Stewart of Joe Gibbs Racing would finish second and third, respectively.
The 2004 MBNA America 400 "A Salute to Heroes" was the 13th stock car race of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season and the 36th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 6, 2004, before a crowd of 140,000 in Dover, Delaware at Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Mark Martin of Roush Racing would survive through a wreck-fest to win his 34th career NASCAR Nextel Cup Series win, his first of the season, and would break a 72-race losing streak. To fill out the podium, Tony Stewart of Joe Gibbs Racing and Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. would finish second and third, respectively.
The 2004 UAW-GM Quality 500 was the 31st stock car race of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, the fifth race of the 2004 Chase for the Nextel Cup, and the 45th iteration of the event. The race was on Saturday, October 16, 2004, before a crowd of 140,000 in Concord, North Carolina, at Lowe's Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 334 laps to complete. At the race's end, Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports would take advantage of Kasey Kahne's bad luck at the end of the race, holding off the field on the final restart to win his 11th career NASCAR Nextel Cup Series win and his third of the season. To fill out the podium, Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. would finish second and third, respectively.
