In 2005, Gale ventured down to Lakeland for speed week in his Chevy truck and sat on the pole. He started there and led every lap to win against Matt Martin, son of Mark Martin, and Jamie Skinner, (son of Mike Skinner). Two weeks later at New Smyrna Speedway, Gale broke the track qualifying record, and also won again taking both Florida races against some very well known drivers. At Birmingham International Raceway, Gale added another track qualifying record to his resume, breaking the old mark held by Jeff Wainwright. Also on April 23, Gale broke the three-year-old track record at Mobile Speedway in the super late model series with the time of 16.920 sec. Around July, Gale seized the opportunity to move to Spartanburg, South Carolina as 2005 Snowball Derby winner Eddie Mercer presented Gale with the chance to be the shock specialist for Phoenix Racing, which is owned by James Finch of Panama City, Florida. Later in the year, Finch decided to give Gale a chance to do some testing in both his Busch and Nextel Cup car.