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2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup

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2007

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The 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup was the ten-race playoffs which concluded the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. It began with the Sylvania 300 on September 16, 2007 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and ended with the Ford 400 on November 18 of the same year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Jimmie Johnson winning the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship.

Contents

The entry requirements for the Chase changed this year. Previously, the top ten drivers in the points standings and anyone else within 400 points of the leader after the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 would qualify for the Chase. This year, the top twelve drivers in the points standings after the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 automatically qualified for the Chase with each drivers' point total reset to 5,000 points, with a ten-point bonus for each race won during the first 26 races. In addition, as NASCAR makes the full-time transition to the Car of Tomorrow, half of the races used the new template, and the other half used the older template, which was officially retired from Cup competition following the Ford 400. The title "Chase for the Nextel Cup" was also retired, as the season ending playoff will be renamed the "Sprint for the Cup" in 2008.

Final standings

Key: S-Starts; P-Poles; W-Wins; T5-Top 5 finishes; T10-Top 10 finishes; DNF-Did not finish; Pts-Points.
NOTES:
 1. The original seedings saw Edwards placed fourth ahead of Kurt Busch based on most second-place finishes, while Denny Hamlin was seeded sixth based on the same criteria, followed by Truex, Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Harvick, with further tiebreakers based on third-place finishes, etc.
2. Kurt Busch by most wins finished in seventh place ahead of Jeff Burton.
3. Those in boldface were invited to the 2007 Nextel Cup Banquet November 30 in New York.

Standings Plus/Minus Through The Chase

Chg = Change in position. n/c = No change in position. Std = Standing After Race

Standings at beginning of Chase

  1. Jimmie Johnson, 5,060 points, leader
  2. Jeff Gordon, 5,040, -20
  3. Tony Stewart, 5,030, -30
  4. Carl Edwards, 5,020, -40
  5. Kurt Busch, 5,020, -40
  6. Denny Hamlin, 5,010, -50
  7. Martin Truex, Jr., 5,010, -50
  8. Matt Kenseth, 5,010, -50
  9. Kyle Busch, 5,010, -50
  10. Jeff Burton, 5,010, -50
  11. Kevin Harvick, 5,010, -50
  12. Clint Bowyer, 5,000, -60

Standings at end of the "regular season"

At the conclusion of the "regular season" (the 2007 Chevy Rock & Roll 400), these were the point standings before the Chase adjustments were made. Also indicated are how far up or down in the standings a driver went when the Chase points were awarded:

  1. Jeff Gordon, 3,849 pts., leader, down one spot.
  2. Tony Stewart, -312 pts, down one spot.
  3. Denny Hamlin, -359, down three spots.
  4. Jimmie Johnson, -410 pts., up three spots.
  5. Matt Kenseth, -419 pts., down three spots.
  6. Carl Edwards, -427 pts., up two spots.
  7. Jeff Burton, -521 pts., down three spots.
  8. Kyle Busch, -547 pts., down one spot.
  9. Clint Bowyer, -670 pts., down three spots.
  10. Kurt Busch, -689 pts. and two wins, up five spots.
  11. Martin Truex, Jr., -689 pts. and one win, up four spots.
  12. Kevin Harvick, -694 pts., up one spot.

Races

Drivers in italics did not qualify for the 2007 Chase.

KEY: S — Standard. CoT — Car of Tomorrow.
≠ — Did not qualify for 2006 Chase.

Race results

(NOTE: Actual finish is in parentheses.)

Race 7 - 2007 Pep Boys Auto 500

NOTE: Drivers in Italics are mathematically eliminated from winning the championship.

Race 8 - 2007 Dickies 500

NOTES: 1. Drivers in Italics are mathematically eliminated from winning the championship.
2. Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart were mathematically eliminated when Jimmie Johnson started the 2007 Checker Auto Parts 500

Race 9 - 2007 Checker Auto Parts 500

NOTE: Drivers in italics are mathematically eliminated from winning the championship.

Race 10 - 2007 Ford 400

* - Kurt Busch finished one place ahead of Jeff Burton based on most wins (Two wins vs. one).

Television

ABC carried the entire Chase for the Nextel Cup in 2007, marking the first time that the entire Chase was carried on network television. (In previous years, it had been on a combination of NBC and TNT.) The commentators for ABC were Jerry Punch and Rusty Wallace, who are joined by newcomer Andy Petree, a former team owner and Dale Earnhardt's crew chief in 1993 and 1994. The hosts were Brent Musburger (race) and Suzy Kolber (studio).

References

2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup Wikipedia
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