2007 Samsung 500

The 2007 Samsung 500, the seventh race of the 2007 Nextel Cup Series, was held on Sunday, April 15 of that year at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

2007 Samsung 500
Race details
Race 7 of 36 in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season
Simple line diagram of Texas Motor Speedway track layout
Date April 15, 2007 (2007-04-15)
Location Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas
Course Permanent racing facility
1.5 mi (2.414 km)
Distance 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 71.1 °F (21.7 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)[1]
Average speed 143.359 miles per hour (230.714 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
  • No time trials
Most laps led
Driver Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports
Laps 173
Winner
No. 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress
Television in the United States
Network Fox
Announcers Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds

Summary

It was the third race to feature the Car of Tomorrow. Hendrick Motorsports was shooting for its fifth consecutive win as a team. The last team to accomplish this feat was Petty Enterprises in 1971. HMS driver Jeff Gordon started from pole as qualifying was rained out. The race itself featured many attritions, including a hard first lap crash involving David Ragan, J.J. Yeley, and Ricky Rudd. Gordon dominated the early part of the race until a pit mistake forced him to lose the lead. November Texas winner Tony Stewart struggled throughout the day, first being spun out after contact with rookie Juan Pablo Montoya, and being hit by Jimmie Johnson in the driver's side, and spun again later. However, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who got his first cup win at Texas, slowed to avoid the spinning Stewart, but was hit from behind by Kyle Busch, who was traveling over 30 mph faster. In the end, the race came down to former Texas Motor Speedway winners and ex-teammates Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton. Burton attempted many times to pass Kenseth low, but he held the top spot. On the last lap, however, Burton was able to get underneath and clear Kenseth off turn 2 and hold him off to become the first repeat winner of a Cup series event held at the speedway.

While Burton won his second race, being the first repeat winner, still the past twelve races have been won by twelve different drivers, and it was the fourth different winning team at Texas Motor Speedway in the past four races (Roush, Evernham, Gibbs, Childress), with the past three teams winning at Texas winning for the first time.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. rode the last 10 laps in Kyle Busch's No. 5 car owned by Rick Hendrick.[2] Earnhardt signed a contract with Hendrick one day after the race. Busch signed a contract to go to Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 18 car.

Race results
Fin St Driver Car No. Make Points Bonus Laps Winnings
1 2 Jeff Burton 31 Chevrolet 190 5 334 $526,766
2 4 Matt Kenseth 17 Ford 175 5 334 $357,266
3 6 Mark Martin 01 Chevrolet 165 334 $275,583
4 1 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 170 10 334 $255,811
5 13 Jamie McMurray 26 Ford 155 334 $173,325
6 21 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 150 334 $160,125
7 24 Martin Truex Jr. 1 Chevrolet 146 334 $164,945
8 16 Juan Montoya * 42 Dodge 142 334 $168,375
9 7 Denny Hamlin 11 Chevrolet 138 334 $143,100
10 14 David Stremme 40 Dodge 134 334 $130,175
11 17 Kurt Busch 2 Dodge 135 5 334 $157,233
12 10 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 127 334 $129,975
13 27 Tony Raines 96 Chevrolet 124 334 $131,325
14 36 Brian Vickers 83 Toyota 126 5 334 $114,325
15 42 Paul Menard * 15 Chevrolet 118 333 $113,325
16 8 Clint Bowyer 7 Chevrolet 115 333 $123,775
17 15 Elliott Sadler 19 Dodge 117 5 333 $131,870
18 25 Joe Nemechek 13 Chevrolet 109 333 $108,325
19 30 David Gilliland 38 Ford 106 332 $137,639
20 34 Kasey Kahne 9 Dodge 103 332 $154,816
21 40 Dave Blaney 22 Toyota 100 332 $137,033
22 35 Johnny Sauter 70 Chevrolet 97 332 $102,325
23 33 Casey Mears 25 Chevrolet 94 332 $113,175
24 23 Robby Gordon 7 Ford 96 5 332 $102,625
25 9 Tony Stewart 20 Chevrolet 88 332 $146,861
26 31 Jeff Green 66 Chevrolet 85 332 $121,683
27 39 Scott Riggs 10 Dodge 82 331 $105,925
28 22 Bobby Labonte 43 Dodge 79 331 $133,261
29 11 Kevin Harvick 29 Chevrolet 76 331 $140,961
30 37 Dale Jarrett 44 Toyota 73 331 $91,575
31 38 Ken Schrader 21 Ford 70 331 $112,364
32 20 Ryan Newman 12 Dodge 67 330 $122,625
33 29 Ricky Rudd 88 Ford 64 321 $118,933
34 28 Sterling Marlin 14 Chevrolet 61 304 $97,508
35 32 Kyle Petty 45 Dodge 58 291 $94,272
36 12 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8 Chevrolet 60 5 288 $128,983
37 5 Kyle Busch 5 Chevrolet 52 262 $100,475
38 3 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 49 260 $135,261
39 19 David Ragan * 6 Ford 46 239 $117,025
40 26 Reed Sorenson 41 Dodge 48 5 197 $89,075
41 41 Mike Bliss 49 Dodge 40 42 $80,960
42 43 Kenny Wallace 78 Chevrolet 37 38 $80,865
43 18 J.J. Yeley 18 Chevrolet 34 1 $108,898

Failed to Qualify-#00-David Reutimann, #36-Jeremy Mayfield, #37-John Andretti, #84-A. J. Allmendinger, #55-Michael Waltrip, #4-Ward Burton, #33-Scott Wimmer, #34-Kevin Lepage

References
  1. "Weather information for the 2007 Samsung 500". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
  2. Blount, Terry (April 17, 2007). "Dale Jr.'s decision to drive the No. 5 scrutinized". ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
Previous race:
2007 Goody's Cool Orange 500		 Nextel Cup Series
2007 season		 Next race:
2007 Subway Fresh Fit 500
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