The 2007 Auto Club 500 was the second race in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. It was held on February 25, 2007 at

Auto Club Speedway Auto Club Speedway, originally opened as California Speedway, is a , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, near Fontana. It has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It was also previ ...

Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regional h ...

. This was the first Cup race to use

unleaded gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most Spark-ignition engine, spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists ...

. All cars ran on

Sunoco Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations, ...

260 GTX, a 98-octane (R+M/2) unleaded racing fuel, which had been tested at lower tier series in late 2006 and approved for 2007. In the final accident of the race, David Reutimann was spun out accidentally by

Greg Biffle Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing Team and full-time in the ...

and went into the wall in the corner. The strike to the wall was among the hardest hits NASCAR had ever recorded. The in-car camera showed him dazed by the impact and struggling to get out, unable to respond to his crew initially. Although he suffered a bruised foot, he was otherwise uninjured, and competed in the Busch Series race in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

the next weekend. The race was won by Matt Kenseth, driving the No. 17 Ford for

Roush Fenway Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Politics *Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana *J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of: ** J. Edward Roush Lake, a rese ...

. Kenseth also led the most laps in this race while

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

won the pole.

Entry list

Qualifying

OP: qualified via owners points PC: qualified as past champion PR: provisional QR: via qualifying race * - had to qualify on time Failed to qualify, withdrew, or driver changes: Michael Waltrip (#55), Ward Burton (#4), Jeremy Mayfield (#36), A.J. Allmendinger (#84), Brandon Whitt (#72), Mike Bliss (#49), Kenny Wallace (#78), Kevin Lepage (#34), Scott Wimmer (#33-WD), Regan Smith (#39-WD), Derrike Cope (#74-WD)

Results

Time of Race: 3 hours, 36 minutes, 41 seconds.
Average Speed: 138.451 MPH.
Margin of Victory: 0.679 seconds.
Lead Changes: 28 among 12 drivers.
Cautions: Nine for 37 laps.
Cars finished on the lead lap: 17
Attendance: 87,000 Red Flags: 1 for 15 minutes, 18 seconds

Key

* Led one lap
** Led most laps
† Rookie of the Year Candidate

Withdrew

Scott Wimmer Scott Allan Wimmer (born January 26, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He has a total of six wins in the Xfinity Series. His brother Chris Wimmer competed in the Busch Series. Wimmer co-owns State Park Speedway in Wausau, ...

in the #33

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

for

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard ...

Regan Smith The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ''ri'' " ...

in the #39

for Ginn Racing, and Derrike Cope in the #74

McGlynn Racing McGlynn Racing was a NASCAR racing team. Owned by Raynard McGlynn, they fielded entries in the Nextel Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series before closing down in July 2007. McGlynn began racing in NASCAR in 1998 in the Craftsman Truck Series. O ...

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

all withdrew from the race.

Race Recap

Cautions

References

{{2007 Nextel Cup

Auto Club 500 The Pala Casino 400 is a 400-mile (643.737 km) NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. It is the second race of the Cup Series season (after the Daytona 500) and has been since 2022 as well ...

NASCAR races at Auto Club Speedway February 2007 sports events in the United States