2007 Food City 500 - Race Day

Race Day

The race, despite the introduction of the CoT, was a typical Bristol affair, with 15 caution flags for 90 laps. Tony Stewart, starting from the fourth position, looked to have the car to beat all day. However, during a caution with 211 laps left, Stewart experienced a fuel pressure malfunction, and would finish 35th. The lead was inherited by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin. Hamlin would hold the lead until with 16 laps to go, Kyle Busch stole the lead from the sophomore. It appeared as though Kyle would sail off with his first win of 2007, but a spin by rookie David Ragan set up a green white checkered finish with Hendrick Motorsports holding the first two spots. That would not last long however, as on the restart, Jeff Burton steered his #31 Cingular Chevy to the outside of Jeff Gordon and attempted to chase down Kyle, but would end up in second by a half car length behing Kyle Busch.

Busch's victory was a historic one in many ways. Not only it being the first victory for the Car of Tomorrow, but it was also the 200th win for Hendrick Motorsports, the 600th victory for Chevrolet in NASCAR, and the 61st victory for the Chevrolet Impala nameplate, the last one coming in 1964 when Wendell Scott became the first and so far only African-American to win in NASCAR. The first win for the Impala came in 1959 when Bob Welborn won in Daytona. In a post-race ceremony, former 12-time Bristol winner and current NASCAR on Fox commentator Darrell Waltrip, who dropped the green flag for this race, jack-hammered a piece of the original concrete to begin the reconstruction of the track.