2005 Coca-Cola 600

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. The race featured the most caution flags in Cup history, as well as the most lap leaders (21) in track history.[2]

2005 Coca-Cola 600

Race details[1]
Race 12 of 36 in the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
Winner Jimmie Johnson battling with Ricky Rudd during the race
Date	May 29, 2005
Location	Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Distance	400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km)
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 80.6 °F (27.0 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)
Average speed	114.698 mph (184.589 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Ryan Newman	Penske Racing
Time	27.981 seconds
Most laps led
Driver	Brian Vickers	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	98
Winner
No. 48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	Fox[2]
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds
Nielsen Ratings	6.1[3]

For the first time since 2001, the race received lower TV ratings than the Indianapolis 500, which occurred earlier that day.[3]

Background

Lowe's Motor Speedway, the track where the race was held.

Lowe's Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.

Qualifying

53 drivers attempted to qualify for the race, the most since the 2005 Daytona 500, which featured 57 cars attempting to make the field. The pole position was won by Ryan Newman, his 18th career pole, after recording a lap time of 27.981 seconds and speed of 192.988 miles per hour (310.584 km/h), surpassing Mike Bliss' record of 28.540 seconds and 189.280 miles per hour (304.617 km/h) set at the NEXTEL Open held six days earlier; the top 18 qualifiers eventually passed Bliss' record. Jason Leffler, Bobby Hamilton, Jr., Hermie Sadler, Boris Said, Jeff Fuller, Carl Long, Tony Raines, Mike Garvey, Kirk Shelmerdine and Greg Sacks failed to qualify for the race.[2]

Race

The race was marred by a Cup Series record 22 caution flags. The first flew on lap 7 for Martin Truex, Jr.'s accident in turn 2, followed by Kurt Busch's crash on lap 11. Another caution was flown for debris on lap 94, and on lap 102, five cars (Jimmy Spencer, Scott Riggs, Mike Skinner, Robby Gordon, and Michael Waltrip) crashed on the backstretch. Another debris caution was flown on lap 115, and on the 140th lap, Johnny Sauter crashed in turn 3. Elliott Sadler's spin on lap 151 brought out another caution, and on lap 163, Busch was involved in another crash in turn 2. On lap 201, Scott Wimmer was spun, and Travis Kvapil's crash on lap 210 caused the tenth caution of the race. On lap 217, Truex, Sterling Marlin, and Casey Mears crashed in turn 2, and on lap 228, Marlin and Mears' Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray crashed in turn 2. On lap 235, Gordon was involved in an accident in turn 4, and six laps later, McMurray was spun in turn 4.[2] On lap 247, Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Matt Kenseth, and Terry Labonte were involved in a crash on the frontstretch.[4] The crash caused Labonte to be taken to the Carolinas Medical Center, where he was eventually released.[5] After a debris caution on lap 267, Dave Blaney was spun on the frontstretch on lap 290. On lap 308, another caution was flown for an oil spill on the track, and another debris caution was flown on lap 357. The twentieth caution of the race occurred on lap 368 when Blaney's car stalled while entering pit road. On lap 380, Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers (who led the most laps of the race with 98), Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, and Bill Elliott crashed in turn 1, while the final and 22nd caution was thrown on lap 392 for Joe Nemechek and Wimmer's accident in turn 4.[4] The last caution eventually forced the red flag to be flown, temporarily pausing the race.[5]

Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson, the only Hendrick Motorsports driver in contention after teammates Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, and Terry Labonte had crashed and Kyle Busch had fallen back, was in fourth for the final restart with five laps remaining. After passing pole-sitter Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards, Johnson beat Bobby Labonte to the finish by .027 seconds, the closest finish in Lowe's Motor Speedway history since the introduction of electronic scoring.[6] The win was Johnson's third consecutive 600, a NASCAR record, passing six drivers (Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip (twice), Neil Bonnett, and Buddy Baker) for the record.[2] [7] Edwards, Jeremy Mayfield and Newman rounded out the top five,[8] Greg Biffle, Martin Truex, Jr., Dale Jarrett, Ken Schrader, and Rusty Wallace closed out the Top 10.[4]

Results

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	5	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	185
2	34	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	400	175
3	12	99	Carl Edwards	Roush Racing	Ford	400	170
4	36	19	Jeremy Mayfield	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	400	160
5	1	12	Ryan Newman	Penske Racing South	Dodge	400	160
6	26	16	Greg Biffle	Roush Racing	Ford	400	155
7	30	1	Martin Truex, Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	400	151
8	7	88	Dale Jarrett	Yates Racing	Ford	400	142
9	21	49	Ken Schrader	BAM Racing	Dodge	400	143
10	20	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South	Dodge	400	139
11	39	43	Jeff Green	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	400	130
12	43	37	Kevin Lepage	John Carter Racing	Dodge	400	127
13	10	38	Elliott Sadler	Yates Racing	Ford	400	129
14	33	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	400	121
15	8	0	Mike Bliss	Haas CNC Racing	Chevrolet	400	118
16	42	4	Mike Wallace	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	115
17	37	45	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	400	117
18	38	01	Joe Nemechek	MB2 Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	114
19	28	10	Scott Riggs	MBV Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	106
20	27	91	Bill Elliott	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	400	108
21	11	42	Jamie McMurray	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	399	100
22	40	31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	399	97
23	32	22	Scott Wimmer	Bill Davis Racing	Dodge	399	94
24	9	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	398	91
25	6	5	Kyle Busch #	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	398	93
26	4	9	Kasey Kahne	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	396	90
27	25	7	Robby Gordon	Ultra Motorsports	Chevrolet	393	82
28	13	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	390	79
29	31	07	Dave Blaney	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	385	76
30	2	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	382	78
31	14	25	Brian Vickers	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	379	80
32	18	77	Travis Kvapil #	Penske-Jasper Racing	Dodge	376	72
33	15	8	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	373	64
34	24	41	Casey Mears	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	338	66
35	16	21	Ricky Rudd	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	305	63
36	23	15	Michael Waltrip	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	245	60
37	3	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Racing	Ford	245	52
38	26	44	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	245	54
39	41	40	Sterling Marlin	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	215	46
40	19	09	Johnny Sauter	Phoenix Racing	Dodge	137	43
41	22	23	Mike Skinner	Bill Davis Racing	Dodge	99	40
42	17	50	Jimmy Spencer	Arnold Motorsports	Dodge	98	37
43	35	97	Kurt Busch	Roush Racing	Ford	26	34
# Rookie of the Year candidate Source:[4]

Standings

Race winner Jimmie Johnson led the points standings after the race.

Pos	Driver	Points[4]
1	Jimmie Johnson	1747
2	Greg Biffle	1676
3	Elliott Sadler	1542
4	Ryan Newman	1530
5	Jeff Gordon	1516
6	Tony Stewart	1488
7	Kevin Harvick	1485
8	Carl Edwards	1459
9	Jamie McMurray	1451
10	Kurt Busch	1441

References

1. Weather information for the 2005 Coca-Cola 600 at the Old Farmer's Almanac
2. "THE RACE: Coca Cola 600". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
3. "TV RATINGS 2005". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Archived from the original on February 14, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
4. "2005 Coca-Cola 600". Racing-Reference. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
5. Bernstein, Viv (May 30, 2005). "When Dust Settles, Johnson Is First Again at Coca-Cola 600". The New York Times. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
6. "By the Numbers: Charlotte". NASCAR. May 22, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
7. Ryan, Nate (May 21, 2012). "He's the man again: Jimmie Johnson the Coke 600 favorite". USA Today. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
8. "Jimmie Johnson Wins The Coca-Cola 600". Charlotte Motor Speedway. May 30, 2005. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.