2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard

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2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
Race details
Race 20 of 36 in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season
Map of the basic speedway
Map of the basic speedway
Date July 29, 2007 (2007-July-29)
Official name Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
Location Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana
Course Permanent racing facility
2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Distance 160 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Weather Temperatures up to 86 °F (30 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)[1]
Average speed 117.379 miles per hour (188.903 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Chip Ganassi Racing
Time 48.858
Most laps led
Driver Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps 65
Winner
No. 20 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network ESPN
Announcers Jerry Punch, Andy Petree and Dale Jarrett

The 2007 Allstate 400 at The Brickyard, the 14th running of the event, was the twentieth race of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season and the first of the season that was televised by NASCAR on ESPN. It was held on July 29, 2007 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.

Pre-race

Two Nextel Cup Series teams announced changes in their ownership just before this race:

  • Dale Earnhardt Inc. merged with Ginn Racing, taking over the No. 01 team of Mark Martin and Aric Almirola, and closing the Nos. 13 and 14 teams after Ginn had released Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin because of sponsorship difficulties. The No. 14 and No. 15 teams switched positions in the standings, guaranteeing Paul Menard, the driver of the No. 15, a starting spot. Regan Smith, who had shared driving duties with Martin, was reassigned to the Craftsman Truck Series.
  • Terry Labonte filled in for Michael Waltrip in the No. 55 Toyota which originally made Bill Elliott, winner of the 2002 race, and his No. 21 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team ineligible for the past champion's provisional since Labonte's championship is more recent than Elliott's. However, with the closing of the Nos. 13 and 14 teams from Ginn, Elliott was assured of racing in this event.
  • Originally, there were 51 cars on the initial entry list, including the No. 13 team, which was left without a driver and sponsor. The No. 14 team was entered with Smith as the driver, but because of the merger between DEI and Ginn Racing, the final entry list only included 49 cars.

Race

Results

Pos. No. Driver Car Team
1. 20 Tony Stewart (W) Chevrolet Joe Gibbs Racing
2. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya (R) Dodge Chip Ganassi Racing
3. 24 Jeff Gordon (W) Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
4. 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
5. 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Chip Ganassi Racing
6. 01 Mark Martin Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
7. 29 Kevin Harvick (W) Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing
8. 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing
9. 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Bill Davis Racing
10. 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Roush Fenway Racing
11. 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Penske Racing South
12. 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
13. 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing
14. 4 Ward Burton Chevrolet Morgan-McClure Motorsports
15. 16 Greg Biffle Ford Roush Fenway Racing
16. 6 David Ragan (R) Ford Roush Fenway Racing
17. 38 David Gilliland (R) Ford Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
18. 99 Carl Edwards Ford Roush Fenway Racing
19. 43 Bobby Labonte (W) Dodge Petty Enterprises
20. 15 Paul Menard (R) Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
21. 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Team Red Bull
22. 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet Joe Gibbs Racing
23. 21 Bill Elliott (W) Ford Wood Brothers/JTG Racing
24. 88 Ricky Rudd (W) Ford Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
25. 49 Ken Schrader Dodge BAM Racing
26. 40 David Stremme Dodge Chip Ganassi Racing
27. 7 Robby Gordon Ford Robby Gordon Motorsports
28. 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Evernham Motorsports
29. 10 Scott Riggs Dodge Evernham Motorsports
30. 55 Terry Labonte Toyota Michael Waltrip Racing
31. 33 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing
32. 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Petty Enterprises
33. 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Roush Fenway Racing
34. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
35. 25 Casey Mears Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
36. 18 J. J. Yeley Chevorolet Joe Gibbs Racing
37. 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Haas CNC Racing
38. 00 David Reutimann (R) Toyota Michael Waltrip Racing
39. 48 Jimmie Johnson (W) Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
40. 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Evernham Motorsports
41. 96 Tony Raines Chevrolet Hall of Fame Racing
42. 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Penske Racing South
43. 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Haas CNC Racing
Failed to Quality
Pos. No. Driver Car Team
08 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet EM Motorsports
84 A.J. Allmendinger (R) Toyota Team Red Bull
37 Kevin Lepage Dodge Front Row Motorsports
44 Dale Jarrett (W) Toyota Michael Waltrip Racing
36 Jeremy Mayfield Toyota Bill Davis Racing
78 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing
Source: [2]

Notes

  • For the first time in history, there was not a testing session before this race.
  • This race marked the second time an Indy NASCAR race was on cable television. Either ABC or NBC televised all 13 of the previous events except for 1995, when ESPN showed the race on one day's tape delay. This time, the 400 was originally scheduled to air on ESPN, while ABC would not takeover the broadcast until September. Additionally, this was the first NASCAR Cup race aired on ESPN since the 2000 season finale of what was then the Winston Cup Series.
  • Dale Jarrett's failure to qualify meant that only 4 drivers had started every Brickyard 400 since its inception in 1994: Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin, and Bill Elliott.
  • Kevin Harvick, who led part of the race until Stewart overtook him on lap 149, missed the victory by a close finish to become the 3rd driver to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year.

Post-race

For the second time since 2004, a winning driver uttered an obscenity in a live post-race interview when Stewart said "This one's for every one of those fans in the stands who pull for me every week and take all the bullshit from everybody else" to the ESPN reporter. At first, it was perceived to be in response to critics who have gone after his blunt and abrasive personality, but it has since been reported that Stewart was the subject of statements made by Pardon the Interruption co-hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon on the show that aired the day after Stewart's win at the USG Sheetrock 400. After Stewart joked about celebrating the victory by drinking a case of Schlitz beer, the co-hosts concluded that the driver was a bad role model for children. Whether the comments were a form of revenge against the network is open for interpretation.[3][4]

On the Tuesday after the race, Stewart was fined US$25,000 by NASCAR, and lost 25 points in the driver's championship due to the infraction. His team, Joe Gibbs Racing, also was penalized 25 points in the owners' championship. However, his classification of fifth in the championship standings remained the same despite the penalty.[5] Dale Earnhardt Jr., who said the word "shit" after winning the 2004 EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway had been given the same penalty that year.

References

External links

Previous race:
2007 USG Sheetrock 400
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
2007 season
Next race:
2007 Pennsylvania 500