2005 Coca-Cola 600

Race details[1][2]
Race 12 of 36 in the2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
2005 Coca-Cola 600 program cover, with artwork from NASCAR artist Sam Bass. The painting is called "Bottle Rockets!"
Date	May 29, 2005 (2005-05-29)
Location	Lowe's Motor Speedway,Concord, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	1.5 miles (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[3]
Announcers	Mike Joy,Darrell Waltrip,Larry McReynolds
Nielsen ratings	6.1[4]

The2005 Coca-Cola 600, the 46th running of therace, was aNASCAR Nextel Cup Series race held on May 29, 2005, atLowe's Motor Speedway inConcord, North Carolina. The race was the twelfth of the2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. Thepole position was won byPenske Racing'sRyan Newman, while the race was won byJimmie Johnson ofHendrick Motorsports in a fantastic finish againstBobby Labonte. The race featured the mostcaution flags in Cup history at 22 cautions for 103 laps, as well as the most lap leaders (21) in track history.^[3]

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 prestigiousCoca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and theNEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as theUAW-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 ofBruton Smith) as track president.

53 drivers attempted to qualify for the race, the most since the2005 Daytona 500, which featured 57 cars attempting to make the field. Thepole position was won byRyan 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), surpassingMike Bliss' record of 28.540 seconds and 189.280 miles per hour (304.617 km/h) set at theNEXTEL 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 andGreg Sacks failed to qualify for the race.^[3]

The race was marred by a Cup Series record 22caution flags. The first flew on lap 7 forMartin Truex Jr.'s accident in turn 2, followed byKurt 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, andMichael 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, andTravis Kvapil's crash on lap 210 caused the tenth caution of the race. On lap 217, Truex,Sterling Marlin, andCasey Mears crashed in turn 2, and on lap 228, Marlin and Mears'Chip Ganassi Racing teammateJamie 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.^[3] On lap 247, Waltrip,Dale Earnhardt Jr.,Matt Kenseth, andTerry Labonte were involved in a crash on the frontstretch.^[8] The crash caused Labonte to be taken to theCarolinas Medical Center, where he was eventually released.^[9] 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 enteringpit road. On lap 380,Jeff Gordon,Brian Vickers (who led the most laps of the race with 98),Kevin Harvick,Mark Martin, andBill Elliott crashed in turn 1, while the final and 22nd caution was thrown on lap 392 forJoe Nemechek and Wimmer's accident in turn 4.^[8] The last caution eventually forced thered flag to be flown, temporarily pausing the race.^[9]

Meanwhile,Jimmie Johnson, the onlyHendrick Motorsports driver in contention after teammates Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, and Terry Labonte had crashed andKyle Busch had fallen back, was in fourth for the final restart with five laps remaining. After passingpole-sitterRyan Newman andCarl Edwards, Johnson had a shot to win the race and beatBobby Labonte. With four to go, Johnson closed the gap from a few car lengths to be on Bobby Labonte's back bumper with three to go. On the final lap, Johnson attempted to pass Labonte on the inside but was not able to get there and went back behind Labonte. In the final two corners, Johnson tried the outside and was able to make it stick and Johnson beat Labonte to the finish by .027 seconds, the closest finish in Lowe's Motor Speedway history since the introduction of electronic scoring.^[10] The win was Johnson's third consecutive 600, a NASCAR record, passing six drivers (Jeff Gordon,Dale Earnhardt,Darrell Waltrip (twice),Neil Bonnett, andBuddy Baker) for the record.^[3][11] It was also Johnson's third win in a row at Lowe's. Edwards,Jeremy Mayfield and Newman rounded out the top five,^[12]Greg Biffle,Martin Truex Jr.,Dale Jarrett,Ken Schrader, andRusty Wallace closed out the Top 10.^[8]

The race was broadcast onFox Sports, with Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, and Darrell Waltrip as commentators. Neil Goldberg was producer and Artie Kempner was director. The call of the final lap has become one of motorsport's signature calls. This is the transcript of the final lap.^{[citation needed]}

Joy: Last time!

Waltrip: (Johnson) can't do it. I don't think he can do it unless Bobby (Labonte) messes up.

McReynolds: There (Johnson) goes to the bottom, Darrell, they'll be side by side coming off turn two, Bobby's on the high side!

Waltrip: You can't pass over there. There's no way. (With the grinding issues over the off-season, it had become harder to use the inside line.)

Joy: Was that the last best move made too soon?

Waltrip: Outside, outside, Here (Johnson) comes, outside, outside. (Artie Kempner, director, cuts to a scene of Johnson making the pass on the outside.)

McReynolds: Just like in Atlanta last March (from the Golden Corral 500 two months prior, when Johnson was passed by Carl Edwards on the outside exiting Turn 4), he's not going to be able to do it I don't think, they're side by side!

Joy: Yes he is! Here he comes, Jimmie Johnson!

McReynolds: Driver of the forty-eight car.

Waltrip: He did it, three in a row, Jimmie Johnson!

McReynolds: By two one hundredths of a second. (0.02)

Waltrip: I thought when (Johnson) got beat at turn two it was all over, but he drove it in on the outside and won it!

Joy: Boy, was that worth staying up late for or what?

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• 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
• NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway

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