Sylvania 300
- Complete Results
The Sylvania 300 was held on September 18 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Tony Stewart sat on the pole and led most of the laps in the first race of the Chase to the NASCAR Nextel Cup, battling with Ryan Newman in the final laps and ultimately finishing second behind him. Kurt Busch, one of the ten Chase drivers, was involved in an incident with Scott Riggs early on that set him 66 laps behind the leader. After pulling into the garage, Busch stormed to Riggs' pit and had words with his crew chief, Rodney Childers. Busch finished 35th.
Several other incidents also happened during the race. Kyle Busch got tangled with Kasey Kahne, who was sent hard into the wall. Kahne, who was out for the day, maneuvered his wrecked car in front of Busch under caution. Kahne was later fined $25,000 and docked 25 points and was placed on probation for the remainder of the season. Later on, Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon got together, ending Gordon's day. On the following caution lap, Gordon tried to ram Waltrip's car with his wrecked car and on the lap after that, Gordon threw his helmet at Waltrip's passing car. In the subsequent live interview on TNT, Gordon called Waltrip a "piece of s**t", and TNT quickly ended the interview. Gordon was later fined $35,000, docked 50 points and like Kahne, was placed on probation for the remainder of the season for the two incidents. Waltrip was fined $10,000 and docked 25 points for apparently using an obscene gesture, but Waltrip and DEI contested the fine with NASCAR and it was overturned. Following that incident, NASCAR waved the red flag to stop the field and clean the track, but also warned all teams and crew chiefs to restrain themselves from further retributive incidents.
In a side note to this incident, Gordon put the helmet up for auction on eBay for the benefit of his race team's sponsor Harrah's relief efforts of Hurricane Katrina, and Waltrip signed the helmet as well. At one point, bidding was stopped at $10 million (US) because the bidding was getting out of hand. When the auction reopened, internet gambling site Goldenpalace.com won the bidding, paying $51,100 (US).
Top Ten Results
- Ryan Newman
- Tony Stewart
- Matt Kenseth
- Greg Biffle
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Rusty Wallace
- Mark Martin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Jeff Burton
- Kevin Harvick
Failed to qualify: Carl Long (#00), Morgan Shepherd (#89), Stanton Barrett (#95), Mike Garvey (#66), Tony Raines (#37), Kirk Shelmerdine (#27)
Read more about this topic: 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series