2007 Ford 400
The 2007 Ford 400, the final race of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season for 2007 and the 2007 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, was run on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, located in Dade County outside Miami, the final event of the three day Ford Championship Weekend. The race was historic for several reasons:
- The race was the last to use the current template for NASCAR's premier series, based on the 1966 Ford Fairlane run by the legendary Holman-Moody Racing team. Starting in 2008, NASCAR will use the Car of Tomorrow template full time, one year ahead of the originally planned schedule. The current cars will become standard in the Nationwide Series beginning next February.
- The series ran under the "NEXTEL Cup" banner for the last time. Starting in 2008, as per the merger of Sprint Nextel, the series will be changed to the "NASCAR Sprint Cup".
- The season-long championship was decided after the completion of this race. After the Checker Auto Parts 500, Jimmie Johnson led Jeff Gordon by 86 points, with both drivers eligible to clinch the season championship. Regardless of which driver is champion, it would be Rick Hendrick's seventh championship. Johnson needed to finish 18th (without leading a lap), 19th (leading a lap) or 21st (leading the most laps) to clinch his second consecutive championship.
- The race also marked the last appearance of the #25 Hendrick Motorsports car. Since making its debut in the 1986 Daytona 500, the car has been raced by eleven drivers in 656 races, winning seventeen. Its most recent win was by Casey Mears in the 2007 Coca-Cola 600. The points for this car will be transferred over to the new #88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ride for 2008. The current #88, piloted by Ricky Rudd, who retired after this race, and owned by Yates Racing, becomes the #28 again in 2008 with Travis Kvapil in the drivers' seat. While Dale Jarrett was in the seat, they won the 1999 Cup championship (then under Winston sponsorship).
- The three-way battle for the 35th spot in owners points also concluded here. Holding down that 35th spot was the #22 Toyota of Bill Davis Racing, driven by Dave Blaney. Behind them by 136 points was the #21 Ford of the legendary Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, driven by Bill Elliott. Ahead of the #22 was the #45 Dodge of Petty Enterprises, driven by Kyle Petty, but they were only ahead by 29 points. At the conclusion of this race, whichever of these three teams holds the 35th spot will be guaranteed a starting position in the first five races of 2008, including the 2008 Daytona 500.
Pre-Race News
- Todd Bodine drove the #4 Morgan-McClure Motorsports ride, replacing Ward Burton, but failed to qualify, thus ending their 2007 season. Johnny Benson put the #36 Bill Davis Racing 360 OTC Toyota Camry into the race.
- Roush Fenway Racing announced that Robbie Reiser, crew chief for driver Matt Kenseth, will be stepping of the pit box to become Roush Fenway's general manager. Reiser replaces Max Jones, who will become the GM for Yates Racing. Reiser's replacement atop the pit box is Chip Bolin, who led Kenseth to victory after Reiser was suspended. Also, Roush Fenway will build Yates cars for the 2008 season.
- Unlike previous years, where the entire Chase field including the 11th place driver would take the stage at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, only the top 10 drivers will be on stage.
- Continuing the trend of new part owners from other "stick and ball" sports, Richard Childress Racing has been linked with Tom Hicks, owner of baseball's Texas Rangers, hockey's Dallas Stars and co-owner (with GEM's George Gillett) of English Premier League club Liverpool into owning a minority interest of RCR.
Qualifying
With a lap of 30.545 seconds at a speed of 176.788 mph, points leader Jimmie Johnson moved one step closer to winning his second consecutive championship by winning the final pole award under Anheuser-Busch sponsorship. Johnson's main rival, teammate Jeff Gordon, starts 11th, two time Homestead winner Tony Stewart starts 14th, and defending three-peat winner Greg Biffle starts 37th.
Failed to Qualify: A.J. Allmendinger (#84), John Andretti (#49), Joe Nemechek (#78), Michael Waltrip (#55), Todd Bodine (#4), Burney Lamar (#08, crashed in qualifying).
Race
Matt Kenseth won the race, celebrating by doing burnouts with his race car. Jimmie Johnson finished seventh, and won the 2007 NEXTEL Cup championship by 77 points over Jeff Gordon, and also did burnouts with Kenseth.
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