The 2007 Dickies 500 was the 34th race in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season and the third to last race in the

2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup 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 s ...

. This race took place on Sunday, November 4, at Texas Motor Speedway in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Background

Qualifying

With a fast lap at 27.964 sec. at a speed of 193.105 mph, Chase driver

Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...

won his first career pole. On his outside will be points leader

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 ...

. Defending race winner

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...

rolls off 15th, defending champion

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...

starts 8th, and darkhorse candidate Clint Bowyer starts 29th. Of note, open wheel imports Juan Pablo Montoya and

A. J. Allmendinger Anthony James "A. J." Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger's professi ...

will roll of 3rd and 5th, a personal best for Allmendinger, and second best for Montoya. Truex also becomes the 17th different driver to win a pole, tying a record originally set in the 1997 season and matched in the 2001 season. Failed to Qualify: #4-

Ward Burton John Edward Burton III (born October 25, 1961) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He has five career wins in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, including the 2002 Daytona 500 and the 2001 Southern 500. He is the older brothe ...

, #49- John Andretti, #55-

Michael Waltrip Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, and published author. He competes full time in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience. He is the younger brother o ...

, #08-

Burney Lamar Burney Lamar (born August 21, 1980) is an American stock car racing driver. He has driven in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series. Racing career Lamar began racing go-karts at the age of 5 and won a total of 25 track cham ...

, #34- Kevin Lepage.

Race

The race would mostly be dominated by

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...

, who led for 153 laps. Chase drivers such as

Jeff Burton Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), nicknamed The Mayor, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He scored 21 career victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, including two Coca-Cola 600s in ...

, Kevin Harvick,

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...

, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, and Truex saw their hopes for title contention end. On the final pit stop

Robbie Reiser Robert Reiser (born June 27, 1963) is a former crew chief and a general manager for RFK Racing. Reiser is the son of Alice and John Reiser, who served as general manager for Roush Racing's Busch and Craftsman Truck series race shops. Career R ...

, Kenseth's crew chief, called his pit crew to only change two tires. This got them the track position, but not very many cars followed their strategy. One of those cars was of

. With four fresh tires, Jimmie hunted down Kenseth and the two of them staged a brilliant and intense duel, staying side by side for more than a lap. Johnson would eventually prevail with two to go and take his third consecutive win and take the points lead away from teammate

. Nine drivers in the

Chase for the NEXTEL Cup The NASCAR playoffs is a championship Playoffs, playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as 'The Chase for the Championship' on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to ...

finished in the top 11 of the overall running order.

Results

Points

*As mentioned above, Johnson took over the points lead, 30 points ahead of Gordon. Ironically, if the system that NASCAR used before the Chase started (

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

) was still in use, Gordon would have clinched the title after this rac

*For the last guaranteed spot in each race, the 22 team ( Bill Davis Racing) expanded its lead over the 21 team (

Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Wood Brothers Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was formed in 1950 by eponymous brothers Glen and Leonard Wood. From 2006 to 2008, the team was merged with Tad an ...

) to 127 points.

Bill Elliott William Clyde Elliott (born October 8, 1955), also known as Awesome Bill from Dawsonville, Million Dollar Bill, or Wild Bill is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He competes full time in the Camping World Superstar Racing ...

crashed out of the race, not helping the latter team's chances.

Other note

Johnson won his third consecutive race; he has the last two such streaks. He also won three straight in the 2004 season (

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, Martinsville, and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

References

External links

Complete race results

{{2007 Nextel Cup

Dickies 500 The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The inaugural race took place on November 6, 2005. The race has always started in the late aft ...

21st century in Fort Worth, Texas NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway November 2007 sports events in the United States