Ambrose started 2005 with a clean sweep of the opening round in Adelaide. He remained in the championship lead and was near to winning the championship until Round 10 at the Bathurst 1000 when he was involved in a controversial crash with Greg Murphy approaching The Cutting late in the race. The two drivers walked out and argued to applause from the fans. Both of them were infuriated with one another, and shared some heated words after the crash. Murphy said "He's got an ego problem that we all know about and it reared its ugly head again, and I'm just not going to put up with it". Ambrose was quoted after the race was finished with his title hopes;