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YEAR-BY-YEAR NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RECAP
2005 Finished 25th in series points.
Started third in the Daytona 500 which he has won twice,and led 42 laps, but
finished 36th due to engine problems.
Best finish of the season, a runner-up finish, came in the spring Phoenix
race. He started 38th and finished third the following week at Talladega where he has also won.
Won his only Bud
Pole Award of the season in the first Pocono event, in which he finished fifth.
Moved to Bill Davis Racings NAPA
Dodge team in 2006 after five full seasons at Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
2004 Finished 20th in series points.
Disappointing season started with 38th-place finish in Daytona 500. Highest
spot in points after that was 16th.
Best finish was a second in Coca-Cola 600; best start was second in Talladega
spring event and Daytona summer race.
Had fourth-place runs in two non-points events, the first 125-mile qualifier
for the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge.
Failed to have a top-10 finish in any of the
four restrictor-plate points events.
2003 Finished 15th in series points.
Won Daytona 500 for the second time in three seasons, becoming one of only
eight drivers to win the series most prestigious race two or more times.
Recorded first multiple-win season of his
career by adding a victory at Talladega in September.
Led points following third-place finish at Las Vegas, and stood
firmly in the NASCAR Top 10 for 27 race weeks until bad luck hampered last third of his season.
His 10 finishes of
26th or worse in the last 13 races which included all six of his DNFs relegated him to his final points standing.
Exceeded $20 million mark in career winnings.
Also drove part-time NASCAR Busch Series schedule (20 races),
winning at Bristol in August.
2002 Finished 14th in series points.
Dominated restrictor plate races, winning at Daytona in July and was fifth at
the Daytona 500 after winning a Gatorade 125 event.
Recorded finishes of second and eighth, respectively, at
Talladega.
After a slow start, surged from 24th to 12th in the points with three of his four total top fives and six of
his 10 top-10 finishes within a nine-race span beginning with a second-place effort at Talladega in April.
Finished
up the year in a consistent fashion with seven top-15 finishes in the final 14 events.
Points finish was highest in
six years (14th in 1996).
Ended speculation about his future by signing a four-year deal with DEI in July.
Earned
two outside poles Watkins Glen and Michigan MIS start was his best since an outside pole at Las Vegas in 1999.
2001 Finished 24th in series points.
Won his first series race in 463 career starts at the Daytona 500.
Finished
second to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., at Daytona five months later.
Was second at Homestead in first season
with DEI for a total of three top fives; his two runner-up efforts were his first since 1988, at that point his best finish
in the series.
Posted $3,411,644 in winnings, his career best at the time.
2000 Finished 27th in series points.
Had one top-five finish, a season-best third at Martinsville in April.
Ran seasons
first 19 races for Jim Mattei and finished driving for Jim Smith.
1999 Finished 29th in series points.
First season with Mattei Motorsports produced his first top-five finish in three
years, a fifth-place effort at the Daytona 500.
Also recorded two top 10s.
Career-high 10 DNFs.
1998 Finished 17th in series points.
In his final season with the Wood Brothers, managed five top-10 finishes
including a season-best sixth to open the season at Daytona.
Had string of 387 consecutive starts snapped when
he failed to qualify at Phoenix.
1997 Finished 18th in series points.
Six top-10 finishes included four seventh-place efforts
Best start of the
season (sixth) came on the Infineon road course.
1996 Finished 14th in series points in his first year with the Wood Brothers.
Won NASCARs all-star race at Lowes
Motor Speedway, becoming the first driver to win the all-star event since transferring from the Open.
Earned one
top five in April at Talladega, to go along with 10 top 10s.
Earned $1 million in a season for the first time in his
career.
1995 Finished 12th in series points, tying his career best set the season prior.
Final season with Chuck Rider, ending
an eight-year association.
Secured a pair of top-five finishes along with six top 10s.
1994 Finished 12th in series points, his career best in the standings.
Finished third at Talladega, and posted one
other top-five finish; also had eight top 10s.
Started on the outside pole at Charlotte in October.
1993 Finished 17th in series points.
Posted five top-10 finishes, including a season-best seventh at Talladega in
July.
1992 Finished 23rd in series points, his first finish outside the top 20 in his career.
One top-five and two top-10
finishes in a season of struggles that included eight DNFs.
1991 Finished 15th in series points, at the time his career-best.
Earned first two pole positions of his series career
within a four-race span (the July races at Dover and Michigan).
Finished in the top five four times and in the top
10 a career-best 12 times.
1990 Finished 16th in series points.
Five top-five finishes and 10 top-10 efforts.
1989 Finished 18th in series points.
Earned five top-10 finishes despite nine DNFs in 29 starts.
1988 Finished 18th in points in first season driving for Chuck Rider.
His runner-up finish at Pocono in June was a
then-best career effort.
Had one other top-10 finish.
1987 Finished 20th in series points.
Earned first career top-10 with a 10th-place finish at the Martinsville spring race.
1986 Finished 19th in series points.
First full season in the series, driving for Dick Bahre.
Runner-up to Alan
Kulwicki for Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors.
Best finishes were 11th-place efforts at Martinsville in April and
at Pocono in July.
1985 Finished 57th in series points.
Ran only five races.
First series start came in Coca-Cola 600, which was
a great race for the Waltrip family as brother Darrell won the event; Michael finished 28th.
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