Follow the Money

The Cup Series banquet is now in the books, along with the 2005 racing season. It's a done deal. This season's big money winner set an all-time record that surpasses Jeff Gordon's last championship windfall at the end of the 2001 season. Tony Stewart's season total of $13,578,168.00 beat Gordon's record season earnings by more than 2.6 million. That's not bad for a year's work! Stewart claims that he's never raced for the money, but just for the enjoyment of driving racecars and winning races. Stewart won more than $6.1 million from the point's fund and over $500k in other awards.

In a previous article, I made reference to how much Chad Knaus cost Jimmy Johnson by failing to bring in the championship contender's car for a tire change. Close to the halfway point of the championship event at Homestead, Johnson had complained that he had a bad vibration which he thought signified tire trouble. The faux pas on Knaus' part ended up costing Johnson more than $900k in championship points fund money, and a fifth place finish instead of a probable second. It would be a long shot to even consider that Johnson could have beat Stewart, but at one point it was a mathematical possibility. Rumors abound asserting that Knaus is leaving the Hendrick Motorsports organization. Even though the rumors have been denied, it still may come to pass, with Johnson taking to the track in 2006 with a new man at the helm of the #48 crew. We've seen denied rumors become reality on more than one occasion.

Second place points winner Greg Biffle didn't do too bad either, taking more than $2.6 million, followed by Carl Edwards in third taking $2 million and Mark Martin in fourth at $1.7 million. The three Roush Racing drivers, along with Matt Kenseth in 7th place and Kurt Busch in 10th, brought in more than $8.7 million in point's money. There's something to be said for having five teams in the Chase for the Championship competition.