2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)

The 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 57th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 34th modern-era Cup series season.

The 2005 season was the first year of competition for the Dodge Charger, which replaced the Dodge Intrepid, a model that Dodge dropped from its consumer lineup for the 2005 model year (though the identity of the 2004 car is still being debated to this day, whether it was an Intrepid or a Stratus).

The 2005 season was the final year for the Ford Taurus, which was replaced by the Ford Fusion in the 2006 season. In addition, four prominent drivers announced that this would be their final season in NASCAR: Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, and, most notably, Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt, Wallace, and Rudd would stay with their word and retire at season's end, but Martin, however, would return for 2006 due to circumstances with Roush Racing and Kurt Busch at the end of 2005. He would then run a limited schedule in 2007 and 2008, then drive full-time Hendrick Motorsports between 2009 and 2011, picking up an additional 5 wins with the team, and then finally run part-time again before officially retiring at the end of the 2013 season.

Also, NASCAR announced in January 2005 that the owners of the teams in the top 35 of the previous year's standings would be guaranteed a starting spot in each of the first five races of the season. This further complicated the unique qualifying procedure for the Daytona 500 and severely affected the chances of some teams to make races after having a poor 2004. After the fifth race, the guaranteed starters were based on the current season's points, with changes possible from race to race depending on results.

The number of cars entered for each race was up slightly from the previous year. The Daytona 500 saw a dramatic increase in its car count from 45 to 56. The increase was in part attributable to a new NASCAR rule that allowed hard liquor brands to become sponsors on its race cars. Roush Racing (Crown Royal), Richard Childress Racing (Jack Daniels), and Robby Gordon Motorsports (Jim Beam) were the first to sign such deals.

Technical changes
2005 saw Dodge launch its newly-reintroduced Charger, both on the market and in NASCAR competition. From the start, the car had numerous problems, namely a notch in its nose meant to better resemble its street counterpart, which was a pony car whose shape couldn't be replicated without violating numerous NASCAR rules. The nose caused problems with both aero and downforce, especially on intermediates.

Before preseason testing was over, all Dodge teams began following Pacific Coast Racing's lead in exploiting loopholes in the rulebook to make the Chargers viable, much like what PCR did with the Magnum and Mirada in the late 70s-early 80s. PCR, however, went a step further and refused to run the Charger at intermediates, instead running the 2004 Stratus, which they felt was more aero-friendly. As the car will still being sold, Dodge allowed it.