2005 Ford 400 (Dale Earnhardt Survives)

The 2005 Ford 400 is widely considered the second greatest NASCAR race of all time, with two noteworthy stories dominating the race: the final fulltime season race of record eight time champion Dale Earnhardt's thirty year career, and the battle for the series points championship with four drivers (with Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading in points) mathematically eligible to win the title. The race was attended by around 400,000 people eager to watch Dale's last race, filling out both the grandstands and the infield. This was also the first race at Homestead run under the lights, after being installed during the summer. It was also Ford's last win with the Taurus before switching to the Fusion in 2006.
Pre-race ceremonies completely revolved around NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, celebrations of his career, remembering some of his biggest crashes and biggest achievements and the biggest fan meet seen since Richard Petty's retirement 13 years prior. Dale was reportedly outside all morning signing autographs for fans. Dale gave his prediction for who would win, citing Jimmie Johnson as his favorite to win. "The boy can drive them wheels right off that #48. I think he's gotta win this one, but my boy's gonna win the championship". Dale also cited Johnson, Gordon and Dale Jr. as NASCAR's next big "trio". Celebrations concluded and regular prerace ceremonies began. Dale Sr. would run an identical scheme to the one he ran at the All Star race, the "Dale's Last Ride" scheme as it came to be known as.
It took almost three and a half hours for Greg Biffle to defeat Mark Martin by nearly 1.8 seconds in front of over 400,000 fans.
The race was dominated by Bill Elliott, who led 189 out of 267 laps, 
but he cut a tire on the next to last turn on the last lap while leading
and finished 8th. NASCAR officials handed out ten cautions for 60 laps 
while 21 different changes in the lead position were made. Matt Kenseth earned the last-place position on the 28th lap of this 267-lap racing event. Drivers who failed to make the race were Ken Schrader, Kyle Petty, Mike Wallace, Derrike Cope, and Rich Bickle. The race was plagued with oil issues and accidents, while debris caused only one caution throughout the race. Due to Stewart's fifteenth place finish, he would not go on to clinch the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series championship, with sixth place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. being crowned champion after this race.
Dale started 25th, but 
led the pace laps as the pace car. His final race had him leading for 30
laps, but finished 29th, five laps down, after a wreck with 15 laps to 
go. Prior to the wreck Dale came into turn 1 a little high and Kurt Busch managed to bump Dale, get him loose up the track and race inside of him. Down the backstretch Dale was seen flipping Kurt the bird once again, Reminiscent of the 2001 Daytona 500 moment that made Kurt famous. Dale was racing for 5th place. All was fine until they went into turn 3, when Kurt Busch bumped into his right rear corner, and sent him spinning. 
At the last moment, his car went airborne, and flipped over several times, with damage. After Dale managed to limp his car to the garage, he climbed out obviously highly enraged by the incident. His crew was able to get his car back onto the track for the final lap. Dale promptly forgot about getting revenge on Busch, but he still finished 25th, 5 laps down. After this finish, the grandstand went wild when the damaged #3 car took its final lap around Homestead, much like Richard Petty's final race. In his post race interview with NBC's Marty Snider, Dale said, visibly choked up with tears, "All these years, driving for the same sponsor and team. I wanna thank Richard (Childress) for the opportunity he gave me, as well as Humpy Wheeler, and everyone else. I wanna thank Goodwrench for sticking with me even through the bad years, and want to say to Jeff Gordon: You are the face of the sport now, Don't let me down boy".
In the end, Earnhardt couldn't care less about what had happened to him during the race, as his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first championship at the end of this race, carrying on the Earnhardt name in the sport. Dale Sr. had never been seen more happy or proud then when he met his son in victory lane for his championship celebrations. Everyone parted for the intimidator as he walked over to his son's car. It was famously said by commentator Darrell Waltrip that day that Dale "had a smile 100 miles wide, 10x wider then usual." "Bout time you won one boy, what took ya so long?" Earnhardt was heard saying, joking with his son.
Dale finished the year 10th in points and was honored at the Banquet in New York for his illustrious NASCAR career, with Darrell Waltrip giving Earnhardt Sr. a rocking chair, symbolic of when Earnhardt did the same to him before Atlanta five years prior. Earnhardt Sr. also won Driver of the Year, unseating Bill Elliott. Dale's final car went to the DEI museum after the race concluded. Kurt Busch was fined post-season for his actions towards Dale, and the wrecking of the former, in the 2005 Ford 400.
Jamie McMurray qualified for the pole position, driving at speeds up to 181.111 miles per hour (291.470 km/h), while the average speed for the actual race was 116.868 miles per hour (188.081 km/h). This was Ron Hornaday Jr.'s last NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race until Atlanta in 2015.
Category:Dale Earnhardt Survives