2007 Subway 500

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2007 Nextel Cup Series

Daytona 500 Auto Club 500 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Kobalt Tools 500 Food City 500 Goody's Cool Orange 500 Samsung 500 Subway Fresh Fit 500 Aaron's 499 Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 Dodge Avenger 500 Nextel All-Star Challenge Coca-Cola 600 Autism Speaks 400 Pocono 500 Citizens Bank 400 Toyota/Save Mart 350 Lenox Industrial Tools 300 Pepsi 400 USG Sheetrock 400 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Pennsylvania 500 Centurion Boats at the Glen 3M Performance 400 Sharpie 500 Sharp AQUOS 500 Chevy Rock & Roll 400

Chase for the Cup

Sylvania 300 Dodge Dealers 400 LifeLock 400 UAW-Ford 500 Bank of America 500 Subway 500 Pep Boys Auto 500 Dickies 500 Checker Auto Parts 500 presented by Pennzoil Ford 400

The 2007 Subway 500, the 32nd race of the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season and the sixth race in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, ran on Sunday, October 21st, 2007, at Martinsville Speedway, located on the outskirts of Martinsville, Virginia. This race was the fifteenth of sixteen series races to use NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow template, which will be made permanent as of the 2008 season.

Contents 1 Pre-Race News 2 Qualifying 3 Race 4 Results 5 Points 6 Television pre-emption

[edit] Pre-Race News

• Scott Riggs has been signed to drive for Haas CNC Racing in 2008, it is still to be determined which one of its drivers, Jeff Green or Johnny Sauter will be released or if both will be released and free agent David Stremme would be signed to one of the Haas rides.

• 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti made his NASCAR debut in the Truck Series Kroger 200 for Cunningham Motorsports. Also, former Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series turned ARCA RE/MAX Series drivers Colin Braun and Michael McDowell made their debuts at "The Paperclip" (the nickname for Martinsville, owing to its paperclip-shape when seen from above), with Roush Fenway Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing, respectively. None of the three finished the race, and all were scored 30th or worse.[1]

[edit] Qualifying

With a lap of 19.938 seconds at a speed of 94.974 miles per hour, seven time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon took his sixth pole at the paperclip and 63rd of his career. Spring Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson will start fourth. South Boston natives Jeff and Ward Burton both struggled in qualifying, having to start 18th and 36th respectively. Chase contender Tony Stewart started 34th.

[edit] Race

The 2007 running of the Subway 500 set a record for cautions in this race, with 21 yellow flags flying for 127 laps. The race was eventually decided under caution, when, during the green-white-checkers, David Ragan spun in turn number 1, ending the single attempt at a racing finish. With his third consecutive win at Martinsville, Johnson became the first driver since Rusty Wallace in 1994-1995 to win three straight races at the track.

[edit] Results

Top Ten Results: (NOTE: Chase drivers are in bold italics.)

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Team
1.	#48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports
2.	#12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	Penske Racing
3.	#24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports
4.	#5	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports
5.	#17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing
6.	#11	Denny Hamlin	Chevrolet	Joe Gibbs Racing
7.	#16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing
8.	#42	Juan Pablo Montoya (R)	Dodge	Chip Ganassi Racing
9.	#07	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing
10.	#29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing

[edit] Points

Gordon's lead over Johnson in the standings was reduced to 58 points. (See 2007 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup) for complete Chase standings).

For 35th place, and the last guaranteed starting spot, the #22 team (driver Dave Blaney for Bill Davis Racing) extended its lead over the #21 team (Bill Elliott for Wood Brothers/JTG Racing) to 142 points.[2]

[edit] Television pre-emption

Because of the Southern California wildfires, which began on race morning, KABC in Los Angeles showed the race on a digital subchannel rather than on its main channel. This meant that the broadcast was available in the second-largest media market in the United States only on digital cable and on stand-alone sets with digital tuners. Viewers who receive KABC on satellite services DirecTV and Dish Network had to do without.

KABC also did not air NASCAR Countdown for a second consecutive week.