Originally published on Feb. 11, 2025
By Zane
Miller
First
round
(8) #31
Jeff Burton v. (1) #17 Matt Kenseth
(7) #20
Tony Stewart v. (2) #48 Jimmie Johnson
(6) #5
Kyle Busch v. (3) #29 Kevin Harvick
(5) #24
Jeff Gordon v. (4) #11 Denny Hamlin
The
playoffs kicked off at Dover, where it seemed that Matt Kenseth was on his way
to a race win with former teammate and postseason competitor Jeff Burton in
second. However, Burton was able to get to Kenseth’s bumper with 10 laps
remaining, forcing an already fuel-starved Kenseth to burn even more gas. Burton
completed the winning pass with six laps to go, while Kenseth ran out of gas coming
to the white flag, though he would be credited with finishing 10th. Meanwhile,
Burton captured his first race victory in almost half a decade.
As for Jimmie
Johnson and Tony Stewart, their rematch of last year’s finals had a bumpy start
as Stewart fell out of contention just 12 laps in after a crash with Kasey
Kahne, causing a skirmish between the two pit crews afterwards. Oblivious to
the chaos on pit road, Johnson went on to claim a respectable 13th-place
finish. Sophomore driver Kyle Busch suffered woes of his own, blowing an engine
just past the one-quarter mark. Busch ended the day in 40th and,
although Harvick did not fare much better as he also blew his engine later in
the race, it was still enough for a 32nd-place result to outdo Busch.
Rookie Denny Hamlin and 1998 champ Jeff Gordon both had strong days in the
top-10, but ultimately Gordon would be on top in third while Hamlin finished
ninth.
The next
race took place at Kansas, where Burton completed the sweep over Kenseth with a
fifth-place finish to Kenseth’s 23rd. Although Stewart did not take
the lead until the closing laps, he made them count. Johnson had been
dominating for most of the second half of the race and built up a 10-second
lead over Stewart, but was dangerously low on fuel. With five laps to go,
Johnson was forced down pit road, handing the lead to Stewart from second. Although
Stewart now had a massive lead over second-place Casey Mears on the last lap,
he too would start running out of gas down the backstretch. With nothing more
than fumes in his gas tank, Stewart coasted to the race win while Johnson’s
season came to an end in 14th. In the last lap chaos, Busch grabbed
the seventh spot while Harvick finished a lap down in 15th. Gordon’s
race ended early due to a broken fuel pump, thus allowing Hamlin to continue
the series after coming home 18th.
Three of
the four series were still on the line at Talladega, leading to a myriad of
suspenseful moments around the 2.66-mile superspeedway. For the second race in
a row, Gordon was done before the checkered flag fell, as he was taken out in a
13-car crash with 50 laps to go. Although Hamlin was also caught up in the
wreck, he was able to continue on without major damage and settled for 21st
while Gordon left eliminated in 36th. The tight battle between
Harvick and Busch went down to the very end, but the former refused to be
denied. Despite Busch leading a handful of laps, he could only muster an 11th-place
run while Harvick advanced to the semifinals in sixth. However, the craziest
finish was, predictably, between Johnson and Stewart. On the final lap, Stewart
appeared to be out of contention after an accident left him unable to keep up
in the draft, while Johnson was sitting in second behind race leader Dale
Earnhardt Jr. Had the two simply stayed in place, Johnson would have easily
moved on to the semifinal round. However, third-place driver and Johnson’s
teammate Brian Vickers had other ideas, and attempted to dip low going into turn
three. As he did this, though, Johnson had already moved low himself, causing him
to spin and collect Earnhardt Jr. with the pair sliding into the infield grass.
When they washed back up onto the asphalt, Johnson T-boned the still sliding #8
car, leaving him unable to make it to the start/finish line. Despite being more
than 12 seconds behind before the crash, Stewart survived with a 22nd-place
finish as Vickers claimed his first career win.
Semifinal
(8) #31
Jeff Burton v. (3) #29 Kevin Harvick
(7) #20
Tony Stewart v. (4) #11 Denny Hamlin
With the
semifinals made up entirely of teammate vs. teammate matchups, Burton would
continue his hot streak at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, claiming a strong third-place
run while Harvick struggled in 18th, two laps down. The Stewart-Hamlin battle
started out on a similarly uncompetitive note, as Hamlin’s night effectively
ended on lap three after a multi-car accident. Although Stewart fell a lap down
to finish 13th, Hamlin could only manage a 28th-place
result after losing several laps due to repairs.
Determined
not to go down without a fight, Hamlin and the #11 crew rebounded in a big way
at Martinsville. Hamlin led 28 laps in his home state on the way to an
impressive runner-up finish to outpace Stewart in fourth. Burton was also
unable to finish off Harvick, as his engine let go prior to the event’s halfway
mark and was relegated to 42nd. Harvick went on to earn the ninth spot.
Both spots
in the championship finals were undecided at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but
Stewart made it clear right from the get-go that he had saved his best for
last. He took the lead for the first time on lap 24 and led the most laps on
the day, taking the race win while Hamlin’s breakout title run ended in eighth.
Meanwhile, Harvick failed to find speed all afternoon, ending up four laps down
in 31st by the race’s end. Burton claimed an adequate 13th-place
finish, sealing his first championship finals appearance since the 1997 season.
Final
(8) #31
Jeff Burton v. (7) #20 Tony Stewart
The
first-ever matchup of a #8-seed and #7-seed for the Cup Series title started
with a bang at Texas, and I mean that literally as Burton’s right-front tire
exploded on the frontstretch just 90 laps in. The severe damage forced Burton
to lose multiple laps on the way to a disappointing 38th-place
finish, in stark contrast to Stewart’s race with Smoke pacing the field for 278
of the 339 laps before capturing his fifth victory of the season. The championship
hopefuls then headed west to Phoenix, where both dealt with lackluster
qualifying runs keeping them at midpack. However, Burton was able to grind out
a 10th-place result while Stewart could only work his way to a 14th-place
finish. This meant that the finals would go all three rounds for the seventh
consecutive season.
At
Homestead, Burton and Stewart would start many rows apart from each other, as
Burton started the race in fifth while Stewart had another mediocre qualifying
run putting him in 21st. By the midway point in the race, very
little had changed in this regard as Burton remained comfortably inside the
top-10 while Stewart had only gone backwards, going a lap down while struggling
to even stay in the top 30. However, with 51 laps to go, Stewart finally caught
the break he was looking for as an oil slick brought out the caution, allowing him
to take the free pass back on the lead lap. The situation was flipped after
that, as Stewart began his charge through the field while Burton started to
slide back through the field. Unfortunately for Stewart but fortunately for
Burton, a handful of late cautions stifled Stewart’s late-race progress. When
the final yellow set up a green-white-checkered finish, Burton was only one
spot ahead of Stewart. On the restart, however, Burton got the jump he needed
while Stewart did not. Burton came to the line in 14th with Stewart
a few car lengths back in 15th, as Burton claimed his first career
Cup Series championship in his 13th full-time season.
Jeff
Burton’s stats for 2006 were one victory, seven top-fives and 20 top-10s,
taking seventh in the real-life standings to champion Jimmie Johnson.
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