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Date November 19, 2006 (2006-11-19) Location Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida Course Permanent racing facility
1.5 mi (2.4 km) Distance 268 laps, 402 mi (646.956 km) Scheduled Distance 267 laps, 400.5 mi (644.542 km) Weather Mild with temperatures approaching 71.6 °F (22.0 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) | ||
The 2006 Ford 400 was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race that took place on November 19, 2006, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. There were 43 drivers on the grid; 42 of them were American-born.
Before the race, the television announcers "humanized" the drivers and shows them as just regular guys making tons of money driving race cars for living and gives fans a better look into their personal lives. Subsequent telecasts of NASCAR would have in-race reporters and/or celebrity narrators like Clint Eastwood, Blake Shelton or Denis Leary that would make the drivers look like "bad boys" or "hardcore drivers" instead of regular people.
Summary
80,000 live spectators attended this 267-lap race with eleven caution periods for 43 laps. It took more than three hours for Greg Biffle to defeat Martin Truex, Jr. by less than 4/10 of a second. Kasey Kahne qualified for the pole position with a top speed of 178.259 miles per hour (286.880 km/h) while the average speed of the actual race would end up being 125.375 miles per hour (201.772 km/h). 12 drivers would fail to qualify for this race. Kurt Busch would get credit for the last-place finish due to a crash on the ninth lap. Kyle Busch, who was an inexperienced driver in the #5 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Hendrick Motorsports, would frequently collide with the wall. This would result in him being slow during this race.
Juan Pablo Montoya would make his NASCAR Nextel Cup Series debut in this race and would change the complexion of the motorsport forever. Although he would cause his then-futuristic Dodge Avenger to ignite into flames on lap 251 of the race after crashing into Ryan Newman; he finished in 34th place ending his maiden venture into the highest level in NASCAR stock car racing. Jimmie Johnson would emerge as the champion after this race was over.
The race officially started at 2:51 P.M. and did not officially conclude until 6:31 P.M.. The complete prize purse for this race was $5,200,543 ($6,178,327.50 when adjusted for inflation). Biffle received $323,800 for his first-place finish ($384,679.53 when adjusted for inflation).