The 2005 Subway Fresh 500 was the eighth stock car race of the

2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series file:KyleBuschAugust2007.jpg, Kyle Busch, the 2005 NASCAR Rookie of the Year. file:Tony Stewart 2005 at Infineon photo Don Ramey Logan.jpg, Chevrolet win the Manufacturers' Championship with 17 wins. The 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the ...

season and the inaugural iteration of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. The race was held on Saturday, April 23, 2005, in

Avondale, Arizona Avondale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 89,334, up from 76,238 in 2010 and ...

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway (formerly known as ISM Raceway from 2018–2020, Phoenix International Raceway from 1964–1973 and 1976–2017, and FasTrack International Speedway from 1973–1976) is a dogleg oval track in Avondale, Arizona. The track has ...

, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent low-banked

tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an Oval (geometry), oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instea ...

race track. The race took the scheduled 312 laps to complete. At race's end,

Roush Racing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, doing business as RFK Racing, is an American professional stock car organization that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. One of NASCAR's largest racing teams in the 2000s and early 2010s, Roush formerly ...

driver

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000–2022, last driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...

would dominate the majority of the race to take his 12th career

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. driver

Michael Waltrip Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, racing team owner, amateur ballroom dancing competitor and published author. He is the younger brother of three-time NASC ...

and

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard C ...

driver

Jeff Burton Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), nicknamed "the Mayor", is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is a member of the Burton racing family. He scored 23 career victories in the NASCAR ...

would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

Phoenix International Raceway – also known as PIR – is a one-mile, low-banked

race track located in

. It is named after the nearby metropolitan area of Phoenix. The

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

, USAC and the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

. The raceway is currently owned and operated by

International Speedway Corporation International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was a corporation whose primary business was the ownership and management of motorsports race tracks. ISC was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. in 1953 for the construction of Daytona International ...

. The raceway was originally constructed with a 2.5 mi (4.0 km)

road course Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed publi ...

that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval. In 1991 the track was reconfigured with the current 1.51 mi (2.43 km) interior layout. PIR has an estimated grandstand seating capacity of around 67,000. Lights were installed around the track in 2004 following the addition of a second annual NASCAR race weekend.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver.

Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Thursday, April 21, at 5:55 PM EST. The session would last for one hour.

Travis Kvapil Travis Wade Kvapil ( ; born March 1, 1976) is an American former professional stock car driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado for Beaver Motorsports. He was the 2003 ...

, driving for

Penske Racing Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Da ...

, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 27.466 and an average speed of .

Final practice

The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Thursday, April 21, at 9:15 PM EST. The session would last for 45 minutes. Ryan Newman, driving for

, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 27.356 and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, April 22, at 6:00 PM EST. Positions 1-42 would be decided by time, while the 43rd position would be given to a past champion who had not otherwise qualified. If no past champion needed it, the next team in owner's points would earn the spot. Also, if a team in the top 35 in owner's points had missed qualifying in the top 35, they would earn a spot between 36 and 42 if needed.

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

, driving for

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 316 Cup Series ra ...

, would win the pole, setting a time of 26.931 and an average speed of . Three drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

References

{{2005 Nextel Cup 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series NASCAR races at Phoenix Raceway April 2005 sports events in the United States 2005 in sports in Arizona