2005 Daytona 500

47th Daytona 500

Location	Daytona International Speedway
Date	February 20, 2005
Laps	200
Daytona 500 Champion	Jeff Gordon
Average speed	135.173
Pole Sitter	Dale Jarrett
Most Laps Led	Tony Stewart
Qualifying Race Winners	Michael Waltrip and Tony Stewart
Television
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, and Larry McReynolds

The 2005 Daytona 500 was held on February 20 at the Daytona International Speedway. Dale Jarrett won the pole. The race was won by Jeff Gordon. It was his third career Daytona 500 victory. This was the first Daytona 500 to go longer than 500 miles. As the result of NASCAR's implementation of the green-white-checker finish rule the previous season, the race had three extra laps due to a caution with 3 laps to go, reaching a total distance of 507.5 miles. It was also the first Daytona 500 to end at sunset.

Race summary

The green flag waved with Dale Jarrett out in front, but he lost the first lap to Jimmie Johnson, and fell back down the field after a small bump from behind from defending Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The first caution flag came out on the fifteenth lap, halfway through the first fuel run, when Bobby Labonte's engine blew up. Tony Stewart had been leading for 11 laps. Scott Wimmer, who had only changed two tires, led after the caution.

The second caution came out on lap 28 when Ricky Rudd spun in the middle of the field while Michael Waltrip was leading, collecting five cars. On lap 36, Matt Kenseth, one of the pre-race favorites, in trouble with a smoking exhaust, pitted under green.

On lap 61 was the start of a series of green flag pit stops, with the Dodges coming in first as they did not get as good fuel mileage as others. Earnhardt was pushed by Jeff Burton coming into his pit stop, and had to back up to get out after his tires were changed, causing him to drop down the field. There were about 7 speeding violations on pit road during this round of pit stops, most notably Jimmie Johnson. Once the green flag pit stops cycled through on lap 64, Jeff Gordon had the lead.

Debris on the racetrack saw the third caution come out on lap 86, with Jeff Gordon still in the lead. Tony Stewart led on the restart, and was also leading at halfway and at the point of the fourth caution, for debris, on lap 105.

Around lap 137 there was another cycle of green flag pit stops, with Tony Stewart retaining the lead, before the fifth caution came out on lap 144 and the sixth caution on lap 155. Michael Waltrip caused the seventh caution, which caused him to leave the race and led to another round of pit stops on lap 164. Jason Leffler and Kyle Busch came together on pit road, dropping them both well down the field.

With 32 laps to go John Andretti, running three wide, and following a group of cars going four wide, crashed and turned into Jason Leffler, putting Leffler out of the race and bringing up the eighth caution, with Tony Stewart still in the lead.

Tony Stewart is the first driver since Bobby Allison in 1981–82 to lead the most laps in two consecutive Daytona 500s.

The "Big One" occurred on lap 184, when Greg Biffle turned in to Scott Riggs, collecting 11 cars total and which saw Scott Wimmer's car roll four times and spin on its nose, brought out the ninth caution. Only some cars chose to pit, with Stewart and others remaining out. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had languished in midfield for the earlier part of the race, was now up to third.

On the restart on lap 187, John Andretti drove straight into Mike Skinner as part of a chain reaction crash involving eight or so cars to bring out an immediate tenth caution. This accident was likely due to somebody ahead of them (or Skinner himself) missing a shift on the restart.

The race restarted with 6 laps to go. With 5 laps to go, Earnhardt briefly took the lead. Tony Stewart retook the lead on the next lap; Earnhardt and Stewart raced side-by-side until Earnhardt regained the lead. Jeff Gordon took the lead before the eleventh caution came out with three laps to go.

The race length of 500 miles (200 laps) was completed under yellow, so a green-white-checker finish was in order. The race restarted on lap 202 with 2 to go. Despite much activity behind him, Jeff Gordon was able to hold off Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to win his third Daytona 500.

It was the second-slowest Daytona 500 to go the distance, with only the 1960 race slower. Two other races in the 2000s were slower but both were rain-shortened events.

Results

1. 24-Jeff Gordon, Led 29 of 203 Laps
2. 97-Kurt Busch
3. 8-Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Led 2 Laps
4. 10-Scott Riggs
5. 48-Jimmie Johnson, Led 3 Laps
6. 6-Mark Martin
7. 20-Tony Stewart, Led 107 Laps
8. 40-Sterling Marlin
9. 37-Kevin Lepage
10. 2-Rusty Wallace
11. 38-Elliott Sadler
12. 99-Carl Edwards*
13. 01-Joe Nemechek, Led 2 Laps
14. 07-Dave Blaney
15. 88-Dale Jarrett
16. 43-Jeff Green
17. 45-Kyle Petty, Led 1 Lap
18. 0-Mike Bliss
19. 77-Travis Kvapil
20. 12-Ryan Newman, Led 1 Lap
21. 25-Brian Vickers
22. 9-Kasey Kahne
23. 19-Jeremy Mayfield, Led 1 Lap
24. 21-Ricky Rudd, 1 Lap Down
25. 16-Greg Biffle, 2 Laps Down
26. 41-Casey Mears, 4 Laps Down
27. 36-Boris Said*, 5 Laps Down
28. 29-Kevin Harvick, 5 Laps Down; Led 1 Lap
29. 31-Jeff Burton, 9 Laps Down; Led 6 Laps
30. 23-Mike Skinner, Completed 187 Laps (Accident)
31. 14-John Andretti, 187 Laps (Accident)
32. 42-Jamie McMurray, 184 Laps (Accident)
33. 22-Scott Wimmer, 182 Laps (Accident); Led 8 Laps
34. 1-Martin Truex, Jr.*, 178 Laps (Engine Failure)
35. 32-Bobby Hamilton Jr., 30 Laps Down
36. 11-Jason Leffler, 168 Laps (Accident)
37. 15-Michael Waltrip, 161 Laps (Engine Failure); Led 42 Laps
38. 5-Kyle Busch*, 55 Laps Down
39. 49-Ken Schrader, 120 Laps (Engine Failure)
40. 00-Kenny Wallace, 39 Laps (Engine Failure)
41. 4-Mike Wallace, 35 Laps (Overheating)
42. 17-Matt Kenseth, 34 Laps (Engine Failure)
43. 18-Bobby Labonte, 14 Laps (Engine Failure)

(*)=Daytona 500 rookie

Failed to qualify:

• 7-Robby Gordon
• 09-Johnny Sauter
• 92-Stanton Barrett
• 55-Derrike Cope
• 89-Morgan Shepherd
• 13-Greg Sacks
• 33-Kerry Earnhardt
• 73-Eric McClure
• 52-Larry Gunselman
• 66-Hermie Sadler
• 34-Randy LaJoie
• 93-Geoff Bodine
• 80-Andy Belmont
• 27-Kirk Shelmerdine