Race
Martin Truex, Jr. won the race, his first in NEXTEL Cup Series competition. For Truex, the victory was especially sweet, as he hails from Mayetta, New Jersey, a city in the Jersey Shore area about 100 miles north of Dover. The driver of the Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Impala for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. led 216 of the 400 laps. The rest of the top 5, in order: Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, and Matt Kenseth.
Kurt Busch was twice wrecked or shoved by colleague Tony Stewart and on pit road he pulled alongside Tony Stewart forcing a crew member to have to jump to avoid being hit, and gestured from his window. Busch was instantly black-flagged with the white cross and was fined $100,000 and put on probation for the rest of the year. Busch ended up 40th in the race results.
In the points standings, Jeff Gordon led Jimmie Johnson by 152 points at the checkered flag. On the other hand of the "Race to the Chase," eight drivers (11th through 18th) were separated by just 127 points.
During the race, it was announced that Bill France, Jr., who was NASCAR's chairman from 1972 to 2003 and its president from 1972 to 2000, had died from cancer at the age of 74 at 1:00 PM EST. The American flag at Dover was immediately lowered to half-staff and the death was announced over the public address system and on the telecast at lap 261 (right before the accident and confrontation between Busch and Stewart), where Mike Joy's somber tone cast a pall as he called Truex's first-ever Cup win.
Top ten results:
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | #1 | Martin Truex Jr. | Chevrolet | Dale Earnhardt Incorporated |
| 2. | #12 | Ryan Newman | Dodge | Penske Racing South |
| 3. | #99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 4. | #11 | Denny Hamlin | Chevrolet | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 5. | #17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 6. | #16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 7. | #01 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | Ginn Racing |
| 8. | #07 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Richard Childress Racing |
| 9. | #24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 10. | #7 | Robby Gordon | Ford | Robby Gordon Motorsports |
Read more about this topic: 2007 Autism Speaks 400 Presented By Visa
Famous quotes containing the word race:
“...I am an abolitionist for the sake of my own race—Contact with the African degenerates our white race—I find the association with them injurious to my child—keenly as I watch to prevent it & his faithful nurse to help me ... She is a good woman & so are many of them—Still the race is a degraded one ...”
—Elizabeth Blair Lee (1818–?)
“Self-determination, the autonomy of the individual, asserts itself in the right to race his automobile, to handle his power tools, to buy a gun, to communicate to mass audiences his opinion, no matter how ignorant, how aggressive, it may be.”
—Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
“If this bureau had a prayer for use around horse parks, it would go something like this: Lead us not among bleeding-hearts to whom horses are cute or sweet or adorable, and deliver us from horse-lovers. Amen.... With that established, let’s talk about the death of Seabiscuit the other night. It isn’t mawkish to say, there was a racehorse, a horse that gave race fans as much pleasure as any that ever lived and one that will be remembered as long and as warmly.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)