2005 NASCAR Cup Series (Simpsonverse)

The 2005 NASCAR Cup Series was the 57th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 34th modern-era Cup series. The season began on Saturday, February 12, and ended on Sunday, November 20, with the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. Tony Stewart was the champion.

Five prominent drivers announced that this would be their final season in NASCAR: Kyle Petty, Ernie Irvan, Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd, and 1989 Winston Cup Champion Rusty Wallace. Petty, Irvan, 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 drive full-time Hendrick Motorsports from 2007-2010, picking up an additional 5 wins with the team, and with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. from 2011-2014, before retiring at the end of that season. This was also the final full season for Ron Fellows. He continued doing road-course races occasionally until 2013.

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.

At the end of the 2005 season, Chevrolet won the NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship after winning 17 events and garnering 259 points over second place Ford who captured 16 victories and 146 points.

Complete schedule
List of full-time teams at the start of 2005.

Manufacturer Changes

 * Dodge replaced the discontinued Intrepid with the newly-relaunched Charger. The Stratus remained in competition
 * Ford introduced the newly-redesigned Mustang into competition.