2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)
The 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 58th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 35th modern-era Cup series season.
This was the first season without Dale Earnhardt since 1974.
Teams and drivers
Complete schedule
Manufacturer | Team | No. | Race driver | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Chevrolet | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | 98 | Jeremy Mayfield | |
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. | 1 | Martin Truex Jr. (R) | Kevin Manion | |
8 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Tony Eury Jr. | ||
14 | Sterling Marlin | Doug Randolph | ||
17 | Michael Waltrip | Derrick Finley | ||
48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chad Knaus | ||
Furniture Row Racing | 78 | Kenny Wallace | Joe Garone | |
Jimmy Spencer | ||||
Travis Kvapil | ||||
Max Papis | ||||
Haas CNC Racing | 166 | Jeff Green | Harold Holly | |
Hall of Fame Racing | 96 | Terry Labonte | Phillipe Lopez | |
Tony Raines | ||||
Hendrick Motorsports | 5 | Kyle Busch | Alan Gustafson | |
25 | Ricky Hendrick | Steve Letarte | ||
35 | Casey Atwood | Lance McGrew | ||
50 | Brian Vickers | Peter Sospenzo | ||
Joe Gibbs Racing | 11 | Denny Hamlin (R) | Mike Ford | |
18 | Dale Jarrett | Steve Addington | ||
20 | Tony Stewart | Greg Zipadelli | ||
MB2 Motorsports | 01 | Joe Nemechek | Ryan Pemberton | |
Morgan-McClure Motorsports | 4 | Scott Wimmer | Chris Carrier | |
P. J. Jones | ||||
Todd Bodine | ||||
PPI Motorsports | 32 | Jerry Nadeau | James Ince | |
Richard Childress Racing | 07 | Clint Bowyer | Gil Martin | |
3 | Kevin Harvick | Todd Berrier | ||
30 | Dave Blaney | Scott Miller | ||
31 | Jeff Burton | Scott Miller | ||
Robby Gordon Motorsports | 107 | Robby Gordon | Greg Erwin | |
Dodge | AK Racing | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | Chris Andrews |
BAM Racing | 49 | Brent Sherman (R) | Ron Otto | |
Jimmy Spencer | ||||
Mike Wallace | ||||
Kevin Lepage | ||||
Chris Cook | ||||
Mike Bliss | ||||
Bill Davis Racing | 22 | Jeff Gordon | Tommy Baldwin Jr. | |
23 | Bobby Labonte | |||
24 | Ward Burton | Kevin Hamlin | ||
Chip Ganassi Racing
with Felix Sabates |
40 | David Stremme (R) | Jeff Vandermoss | |
Scott Pruett | ||||
41 | Reed Sorenson (R) | Jimmy Elledge | ||
42 | Kenny Irwin Jr. | Donnie Wingo | ||
Evernham Motorsports | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Kenny Francis | |
10 | Scott Riggs | Rodney Childers | ||
19 | Casey Elliott | Ernie Elliott | ||
Kelman Racing | 86 | Ryan Kelman | Scott Searle | |
McDuffie Racing | 170 | Crissy Hillsworth | ||
Moroso-Rudd Racing | 82 | Rob Moroso | ||
83 | Brendan Gaughan (R) | |||
84 | Shawna Robinson | |||
Pacific Coast Racing | 60 | Chloe Johnson | Jed Luke | |
69 | Jenny Smith | Barry Baker | ||
80 | Tim Johnson | Charlie Davis | ||
85 | Belle Armstrong | Scott Smith | ||
Penske Racing South | 2 | Kurt Busch | Roy McCauley | |
12 | Tim Richmond | |||
39 | Ryan Newman | Matt Borland | ||
77 | Blaise Alexander | |||
Petty Enterprises | 43 | John Andretti | Todd Parrott | |
44 | Kyle Petty | |||
45 | Adam Petty | Paul Andrews | ||
46 | Austin Petty | |||
Ford | Robert Yates Racing | 28 | Clifford Allison | |
38 | Elliott Sadler | |||
David Gilliland | ||||
88 | Ernie Irvan | Slugger Labbe | ||
Roush Racing | 6 | Mark Martin | Pat Tryson | |
16 | Greg Biffle | Doug Richert | ||
66 | Matt Kenseth | Robbie Reiser | ||
26 | Jamie McMurray | Jimmy Fennig/Wally Brown | ||
99 | Carl Edwards | Bob Osborne | ||
Steele Racing with Brett Favre | 15 | Tim Steele | ||
90 | Davey Allison | |||
Wood Brothers/JTG Racing | 21 | Bill Elliott | David Hyder | |
Pontiac | Kennedy Racing | 03 | Melvin Kennedy | Mark Cutter |
04 | Willy T. Ribbs |
Technical changes
The next major round of model changes took place in 2006. The Ford Taurus, which had been run since 1998, was pulled from NASCAR competition after being discontinued, and was replaced by the brand-new Ford Fusion (a few underfunded teams continued using the Taurus).
Chevrolet upgraded the Monte Carlo to the Monte Carlo SS, marking the first time the "SS" moniker had been used in NASCAR since 1989.
Dodge made multiple changes to the problematic Charger. While the changes helped, especially on the superspeedways, Pacific Coast Racing still refused to run the model on the intermediates and instead continued using the 2004 Stratus. Penske and Petty also used the Stratus at certain intermediates such as California and Texas, before Dodge threatened to pull factory support from them; this caused Roger Penske to accuse Dodge of playing favorites with PCR, and he threatened to go back to Ford. This, in turn, caused Dodge to go back to the drawing board to completely rework the Charger nose for 2007.