2005 Auto Club 500

2005 Auto Club 500

Race details
Race 2 of 36 in the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season
Track map of the speedway at Auto Club Speedway AKA California Speedway
Date	February 27, 2005 (2005-February-27)
Official name	Auto Club 500
Location	California Speedway, Fontana, California
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.0 mi (3.23 km)
Distance	250 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Weather	Chilly with temperatures approaching 64.9 °F (18.3 °C) and wind speeds gathering up to 11.3 miles per hour (18.2 km/h)
Average speed	139.697 miles per hour (224.821 km/h)
Attendance	90,000
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Busch	Hendrick Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver	Joe Nemechek	MB2 Motorsports
Laps	63
Winner
No. 16	Greg Biffle	Roush Racing
Television in the United States
Network	Fox Broadcasting Company
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds

The 2005 Auto Club 500 was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series stock car race held on February 27, 2005 at California Speedway in Fontana, California. Contested over 250 laps on the 2-mile (3.23 km) asphalt D-shaped oval, it was the second race of the 2005 Nextel Cup Series season. Greg Biffle of Roush Racing won the race, his first win of the season. Jimmie Johnson finished second and Kurt Busch finished third.

Background

The track, Auto Club Speedway, is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long. The track's turns are banked from fourteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at eleven degrees. Unlike the front stretch, the backstraightaway is banked at three degrees.

Summary

Magic Johnson gave the command for drivers to start their engines, and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger waved the green flag, which was taken by 19-year-old Kyle Busch. Busch became the youngest driver to ever take the green flag on pole position. Busch was still leading after the first lap, with Brian Vickers in second place.

Before the race, Greg Biffle had promised to reporters and commentators that he would have the lead within 5 laps. He also happened to promise to win the race.

Greg Biffle took the lead in only 4 laps, followed by Matt Kenseth in second place, and Biffle was still in the lead after 26 laps, when Bill Elliott went into the wall. Biffle was immediately overtaken by Matt Kenseth after the restart. Dale Earnhardt Jr. pitted on lap 38, going down a lap, with problems on his left front tire. Carl Edwards took over the lead around lap 46.

On lap 59, Earnhardt – already a lap down – had another problem with his left front tire and the debris brought out the caution a lap later. Ultimately Earnhardt would end up 13 laps behind. Edwards was still in the lead when the caution came out. Kenseth took over the lap during the caution, and Edwards retook it within a lap. Kenseth recaptured the lead at lap 70.

Green flag pitstops started on lap 105. However, on lap 107, well before the green flag pitstops had cycled, a caution came out for debris. Joe Nemechek led on the restart on lap 116. Dave Blaney hit the wall on lap 143 leading to the third caution, with Nemechek still leading over Johnson. At the restart on lap 151, Nemechek was leading from Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson with 26 cars on the lead lap. Within a lap, Johnson was second.

Another caution came out on lap 161 when Kasey Kahne went into the wall. At the restart, Johnson led over Nemechek, but after a three-car tussle for the lead, Nemechek led on lap 166. However, Nemechek's success was short-lived: around lap 180, engine problems saw him fall down the leader board and he had to retire. Edwards took over the lead. Harvick then took over with about 55 laps to go.

With 48 laps to go Michael Waltrip’s engine blew, bringing out the 6th caution, and when the green came out with 41 laps to go, Harvick was leading in front of Kenseth and Gordon. With 34 laps to go, the 7th caution came out because Jason Leffler was in trouble. Most of the leaders pitted, but cars that stayed out took the first six places on the restart, led by Kurt Busch. The race restarted with 29 laps to go.

With 25 laps to go, Busch and Biffle pulled out into a 2-second lead, vying together for first place. Greg Biffle finally retook the lead on lap 228 and kept it to win the race ahead of Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch, with only 0.525 of a second separating the top three men.

Race results

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	5	16	Greg Biffle	Roush Racing	Ford	250	185
2	8	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	175
3	20	97	Kurt Busch	Roush Racing	Ford	250	170
4	15	42	Jamie McMurray	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	250	160
5	19	99	Carl Edwards	Roush Racing	Ford	250	160
6	31	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	250	155
7	18	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	250	151
8	41	38	Elliott Sadler	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	250	142
9	9	12	Ryan Newman	Penske Racing	Dodge	250	138
10	23	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Dodge	250	134
11	7	88	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	250	130
12	10	0	Mike Bliss	Haas CNC Racing	Chevrolet	250	127
13	14	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	250	124
14	38	49	Ken Schrader	BAM Racing	Dodge	250	121
15	13	40	Sterling Marlin	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	250	118
16	27	22	Scott Wimmer	Bill Davis Racing	Dodge	250	115
17	29	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	250	112
18	36	45	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	250	114
19	32	31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	250	106
20	26	32	Bobby Hamilton, Jr.	PPI Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	103
21	2	25	Brian Vickers	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	105
22	16	41	Casey Mears	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	249	97
23	1	5	Kyle Busch	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	249	99
24	35	77	Travis Kvapil	Penske Racing	Dodge	249	91
25	33	4	Mike Wallace	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	249	88
26	6	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Racing	Ford	249	90
27	37	43	Jeff Green	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	249	87
28	3	19	Jeremy Mayfield	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	248	84
29	24	14	John Andretti	ppc Racing	Ford	248	76
30	28	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	246	73
31	43	37	Kevin Lepage	R&J Racing	Dodge	241	70
32	40	8	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	237	67
33	12	10	Scott Riggs	MBV Motorsports	Chevrolet	229	64
34	42	07	Dave Blaney	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	224	61
35	25	7	Robby Gordon	Robby Gordon Motorsports	Chevrolet	222	58
36	11	44	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	216	55
37	39	11	Jason Leffler	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	215	52
38	30	15	Michael Waltrip	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	203	49
39	4	01	Joe Nemechek	MB2 Motorsports	Chevrolet	180	56
40	17	9	Kasey Kahne	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	167	43
41	21	21	Ricky Rudd	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	145	40
42	34	34	Randy LaJoie	Mach 1 Racing	Chevrolet	47	42
43	22	91	Bill Elliott	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	23	34

Race Statistics

• Time of race: 3:34:45
• Average Speed: 139.697 miles per hour (224.821 km/h)
• Pole Speed: 188.245 miles per hour (302.951 km/h)
• Cautions: 7 for 40 laps
• Margin of Victory: 0.231 sec
• Lead changes: 26
• Percent of race run under caution: 16%
• Average green flag run: 26.2 laps

References

Preceded by 2005 Daytona 500

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Season 2005

Succeeded by 2005 UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400