Tony Stewart Wins Second Nextel Cup, Biffle Wins The Race - Roush Decimates The Field
Written by John Davison · November 20, 2005
Tony Stewart drove the race he had to Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, finishing the race in 15th place after his chief rival for the Cup, Jimmie Johnson, crashed just past halfway in the race when his right rear tire failed, sending him spinning into the outside wall, rear end first. Johnson wound up in only 40th place after being credited for only 124 of the scheduled 267 laps. Johnson’s bad fortune became Greg Biffle’s good fortune as Biffle edged out fellow Roush driver Mark Martin for the race win and tied Carl Edwards in points. Biffle will officially place second with six wins for the season to Edwards’ four. Roush Racing dominated the finish of the race with all of the top four finishers based out of the Concord, NC shops belonging to Jack Roush. Biffle headed Martin, with Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards following. Casey Mears took fifth at the finish.
Pole-winner Carl Edwards was the first Roush car to take the lead, holding on for one lap until Ryan Newman earned his five bonus points for leading a lap. The first caution flew for Scott Wimmer’s third turn spin, barely in front of Jimmie Johnson. In the same incident, Denny Hamlin spun the No. 11 car with Brian Vickers becoming involved, damaging his Chevy.
The second caution came out just five laps into the next green flag run when Kyle Busch slid into the Turn Four wall after a tire problem. Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman swapped the lead several times before the next caution for Bobby Labonte’s spin in the second turn. Denny Hamlin led after staying out instead of pitting but Edwards soon retook the lead, holding it until David Stremme’s single car incident on lap 90 and then winning the race off pit road to keep the point.
Jeff Gordon took the lead after Scott Riggs had a spin and impact with the wall. He led to the lap 127 caution brought out when Jimmie Johnson had the tire problems which took him out of the point chase. Carl Edwards won another pit road race but Ryan Newman retook the lead only two laps into the green flag run, then ceded the lead once more.
A debris caution allowed Casey Mears to take the number one spot after he won the pit road contest. Ryan Newman fell behind when his No. 12 Dodge suffered slight left-front fender damage that caused a bad tire rub and send him into the pits for repair and fresh tires, going a lap down in the process.
Mark Martin had steadily moved up to within two seconds of Casey Mears until Mears’ pit stop with 37 laps to run. Edwards locked up the bonus points for leading most laps before pitting. The final caution of the race came out with 15 laps left to run, this time for debris in the third and fourth turns.
All the leaders pit with varying tire strategies. Dave Blaney held the lead after the pit stops but after only two laps, Greg Biffle swept around both Mark Martin and Blaney to take the lead. Mark Martin made it almost a photo-finish at the checkered flag after the Roush pair battled for the race win with Biffle taking the race victory by a fender.
Unofficial Finish, Ford 400
Fn, St, Driver, Car Sponsor Make, Pts/Bonus, Laps, Status
1, 7, Greg Biffle, No. 16 Post-it/National Guard Ford, 185/5 pts, 267 laps, Running
2, 5, Mark Martin, No. 6 Viagra Ford, 175/5, 267, Running
3, 17, Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Ford, 165/0, 267, Running
4, 1, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Office Depot Ford, 170/10, 267, Running
5, 6, Casey Mears, No. 41 Target Dodge, 160/5, 267, Running
6, 11, Dave Blaney, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet, 155/5, 267, Running
7, 2, Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 151/5, 267, Running
8, 14, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 147/5, 267, Running
9, 12, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 143/5, 267, Running
10, 13, Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 134/0, 267, Running
11, 27, Scott Wimmer, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 130/0, 267, Running
12, 19, Mike Bliss, No. 0 NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet, 127/0, 267, Running
13, 37, Rusty Wallace, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 124/0, 267, Running
14, 39, Robby Gordon, No. 7 Jim Beam Chevrolet, 121/0, 267, Running
15, 20, Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet, 118/0, 267, Running
16, 3, Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 115/0, 267, Running
17, 9, Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS Ford, 112/0, 266, Running
18, 8, Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge, 109/0, 266, Running
19, 40, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 106/0, 266, Running
20, 24, Todd Bodine, No. 4 Lucas Oil/Coyote Ugly Saloon Chevrolet, 103/0, 266, Running
21, 36, Kenny Wallace, No. 97 IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford, 100/0, 266, Running
22, 34, Ken Schrader, No. 49 Red Baron Frozen Pizza Dodge, 97/0, 266, Running
23, 23, Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, 94/0, 266, Running
24, 10, Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 96/5, 266, Running
25, 16, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 88/0, 266, Running
26, 26, Sterling Marlin, No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, 90/5, 265, Running
27, 35, Kyle Petty, No. 45 Checkers/Univ. of Florida Dodge, 82/0, 265, Running
28, 15, Reed Sorenson, No. 09 Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts Dodge, 79/0, 265, Running
29, 41, Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 76/0, 265, Running
30, 29, Jeff Green, No. 43 Chex Party Mix Dodge, 73/0, 264, Running
31, 33, Jimmy Spencer, No. 50 Allied Steel Buildings Dodge, 75/5, 263, Running
32, 30, Travis Kvapil *, No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Engines Dodge, 67/0, 263, Running
33, 42, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Chevrolet, 69/5, 263, Running
34, 21, Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 61/0, 263, Running
35, 28, Kevin Lepage, No. 66 Cabela’s Ford, 58/0, 263, Running
36, 38, Bobby Hamilton Jr., No. 32 Tide Chevrolet, 55/0, 263, Running
37, 25, Ricky Rudd, No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Ford, 52/0, 262, Running
38, 31, Scott Riggs, No. 10 Checkers/Florida State Univ. Chevrolet, 49/0, 259, Running
39, 43, Mike Skinner, No. 37 Patron Tequila/BoSPOKER.net Dodge, 46/0, 156, Off Track
40, 32, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 43/0, 124, Out of Race
41, 4, Kyle Busch *, No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, 40/0, 115, Out of Race
42, 22, David Stremme, No. 39 Commit Nicotene Lozenges Dodge, 37/0, 87, Out of Race
43, 18, Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC/ditech.com Chevrolet, 34/0, 82, Out of Race
*: Rookie
Unofficial NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Point Standings
Pos +/- Driver Points Behind Starts Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10
1 – Tony Stewart 6533 Leader 36 3 5 17 25
2 +2 Greg Biffle 6498 -35 36 0 6 15 21
3 – Carl Edwards 6498 -35 36 2 4 13 18
4 +1 Mark Martin 6428 -105 36 0 1 12 19
5 -3 Jimmie Johnson 6406 -127 36 1 4 13 22
6 – Ryan Newman 6359 -174 36 8 1 8 16
7 – Matt Kenseth 6352 -181 36 2 1 12 17
8 – Rusty Wallace 6140 -393 36 0 0 8 17
9 +1 Jeremy Mayfield 6073 -460 36 0 1 4 9
10 -1 Kurt Busch 5974 -559 34 0 3 9 18
11 – Jeff Gordon 4174 -2359 36 2 4 8 14
12 – Jamie McMurray 4130 -2403 36 1 0 4 10
13 – Elliott Sadler 4084 -2449 36 4 0 1 12
14 – Kevin Harvick 4072 -2461 36 2 1 3 10
15 +1 Dale Jarrett 3960 -2573 36 1 1 4 7
16 -1 Joe Nemechek 3953 -2580 36 1 0 2 9
17 – Brian Vickers 3847 -2686 36 1 0 5 10
18 – Jeff Burton 3803 -2730 36 0 0 3 6
19 +1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3780 -2753 36 0 1 7 13
20 -1 Kyle Busch* 3753 -2780 36 1 2 9 13
21 – Ricky Rudd 3667 -2866 36 0 0 2 9
22 +1 Casey Mears 3637 -2896 36 0 0 3 9
23 -1 Kasey Kahne 3611 -2922 36 2 1 5 8
24 – Bobby Labonte 3488 -3045 36 0 0 4 7
25 – Michael Waltrip 3452 -3081 36 1 0 3 7
26 +3 Dave Blaney 3289 -3244 36 0 0 0 2
27 -1 Kyle Petty 3288 -3245 36 0 0 0 2
28 – Mike Bliss 3262 -3271 36 0 0 0 2
29 -2 Jeff Green 3241 -3292 36 0 0 0 0
30 – Sterling Marlin 3183 -3350 35 0 0 1 5
31 – Ken Schrader 3159 -3374 36 0 0 0 3
32 +1 Scott Wimmer 3122 -3411 36 0 0 0 0
33 -1 Travis Kvapil* 3077 -3456 36 0 0 0 2
34 – Scott Riggs 2965 -3568 36 1 0 2 4
35 – Mike Wallace 2269 -4264 28 0 0 0 1
36 – Bobby Hamilton Jr. 2183 -4350 33 0 0 0 0
37 – Robby Gordon 2117 -4416 29 0 0 1 2
38 – Jason Leffler 1538 -4995 19 0 0 0 0
39 – Kevin Lepage 1460 -5073 21 0 0 0 1
40 – Terry Labonte 1071 -5462 14 0 0 0 1
41 +1 Denny Hamlin 806 -5727 7 1 0 0 3
42 -1 Boris Said 791 -5742 9 0 0 1 1
43 – Johnny Sauter 722 -5811 10 0 0 0 1
44 – Hermie Sadler 717 -5816 12 0 0 0 0
45 – Bill Elliott 695 -5838 9 0 0 0 0
46 – Jimmy Spencer 667 -5866 11 0 0 0 0
47 – Martin Truex Jr. 589 -5944 7 0 0 0 1
48 – Mike Garvey* 491 -6042 9 0 0 0 0
49 – Mike Skinner 487 -6046 10 0 0 0 0
50 – Tony Raines 419 -6114 6 0 0 0 0
51 – Stanton Barrett* 389 -6144 8 0 0 0 0
52 +3 Kenny Wallace 376 -6157 5 0 0 0 0
53 -1 Carl Long 356 -6177 9 0 0 0 0
54 -1 Stuart Kirby 352 -6181 7 0 0 0 0
55 -1 John Andretti 304 -6229 4 0 0 0 0
56 – J.J. Yeley 276 -6257 4 0 0 0 0
57 +2 David Stremme 244 -6289 4 0 0 0 0
58 -1 Scott Pruett 230 -6303 2 0 0 1 1
59 -1 Ron Fellows 230 -6303 2 0 0 0 1
60 – Bobby Hamilton 201 -6332 3 0 0 0 0
61 – Kerry Earnhardt 195 -6338 3 0 0 0 0
62 – P.J. Jones 189 -6344 4 0 0 0 0
63 – Morgan Shepherd 162 -6371 4 0 0 0 0
64 – Johnny Benson 150 -6383 3 0 0 0 0
65 – Brian Simo 134 -6399 1 0 0 0 1
66 – Randy LaJoie 134 -6399 3 0 0 0 0
67 +14 Reed Sorenson 119 -6414 2 0 0 0 0
68 – Todd Bodine 103 -6430 1 0 0 0 0
69 -2 Clint Bowyer 97 -6436 1 0 0 0 0
70 -2 David Reutimann 97 -6436 1 0 0 0 0
71 -2 Paul Menard 82 -6451 1 0 0 0 0
72 -1 Anthony Lazzaro 79 -6454 1 0 0 0 0
73 -3 Chris Cook 79 -6454 1 0 0 0 0
74 -2 Shane Hmiel 77 -6456 2 0 0 0 0
75 -2 Johnny Miller 76 -6457 1 0 0 0 0
76 -2 Ted Christopher 74 -6459 2 0 0 0 0
77 -2 Joey McCarthy 70 -6463 1 0 0 0 0
78 -1 Greg Sacks 68 -6465 2 0 0 0 0
79 -3 Jeff Fuller 68 -6465 2 0 0 0 0
80 -2 Eric McClure* 67 -6466 1 0 0 0 0
81 -2 Derrike Cope 64 -6469 1 0 0 0 0
82 -2 Jorge Goeters 63 -6470 1 0 0 0 0
83 -1 Jerry Robertson 40 -6493 1 0 0 0 0
84 – Brandon Ash 37 -6496 1 0 0 0 0
85 -2 Kirk Shelmerdine 37 -6496 1 0 0 0 0
86 +1 Chad Chaffin 34 -6499 1 0 0 0 0
87 -2 Tom Hubert 34 -6499 1 0 0 0 0
88 -2 Wayne Anderson 34 -6499 1 0 0 0 0
*: Rookie
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