Date September 18, 2005 (2005-09-18) Location New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire Course Permanent racing facility
1.058 mi (1.702 km) Distance 300 laps, 317.4 mi (510.805 km) Weather Mild with temperatures approaching 73.9 °F (23.3 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) Average speed 95.891 mph (154.322 km/h) | ||
The 2005 Sylvania 300 was the twenty-seventh stock car race of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the first in the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was held on September 18, 2005 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. The 300-lap race was won by Ryan Newman of the Penske-Jasper Racing team. Tony Stewart finished second and Matt Kenseth came in third.
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Background
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate tracks that hold NASCAR races. The standard track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a four-turn oval track, 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long. Its banking in the turns varies from two to seven degrees, while the front stretch, the finish line, and the back stretch are all banked at one degree.
Before the race, Tony Stewart led the Drivers' Championship with 5,050 points, followed by Greg Biffle with 5,045. Jimmie Johnson was fourth with 5,035 points and Kurt Busch in fifth had 5,030 points. Mark Martin was sixth with 5,025 points with Jeremy Mayfield seventh on 5,020 points. Matt Kenseth was tied with Carl Edwards on 5,015 points and Ryan Newman on 5,005 points rounded out the top ten. In the Manufacturers' Championship,
Busch was the race's defending champion.
Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions were held on Friday before the Sunday race—both of which lasted 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Gordon was fastest, placing ahead of Stewart in second and Robby Gordon in third. Newman was scored fourth, and Bobby Labonte placed fifth. Jamie McMurray, Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Green and Casey Mears rounded out the top ten fastest drivers in the session. Later that day, Rusty Wallace set the second session's fastest time, ahead of Kyle Busch, brother Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne in second, third and fourth respectively. Stewart was fifth, while the rest of the top ten consisted of Travis Kvapil, J.J. Yeley, Newman, Martin and Jeff Burton.
Although forty-nine cars attempted to qualify; according to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, only forty-three could race.