Race Summary
David Gilliland was in the front of the field when the green flag waved. The first caution came on lap 18 when Boris Said moved up the track coming off of Turn 2, most likely unaware that David Reutimann was there, and spun. He had very minor damage and continued the race from there. The race then stayed under the green flag for about 60 laps, during which Tony Stewart took the lead from Kurt Busch. On lap 79, Kyle Petty hit the wall after rear tire blew, bringing out another yellow flag. He went behind the wall for repairs. David Reutimann obtained the free pass to return to the lead lap. Kurt Busch took the lead again during most of the next green flag period, only being passed by Ryan Newman for one lap on lap 128, and then by Tony Stewart again on lap 150.
On lap 152, Tony Stewart got on the apron in Turn 4, got loose, and spun into Kurt Busch. Stewart spun to a halt, while Kurt kept the engine going and went to the garage area for repairs. However, with 46 laps to go, he was unable to continue and did not finish the race. A fourth caution came on lap 175 when a 5-car crash involving David Reutimann, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Green, and Tony Raines occurred in the backstretch. Mark Martin took the lead shortly before the yellow flag came out. Another crash which took out Ken Schrader happened on lap 186. With 5 laps to go, Matt Kenseth ran into Jamie McMurray, who hit the wall and collected Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with him. Ricky Rudd and Martin Truex, Jr. were also collected. Rudd remained on the lead lap, but Truex fell a lap down. McMurray and Earnhardt, Jr. were done, finishing 31st and 32nd, respectively. The race was delayed for approximately 12 minutes for cleanup under the red flag. This set up a green-white-checkered finish.
With two laps to go, an outside line began to form, with Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, and Jeff Burton. Mark Martin came to the white flag looking for a victory. On the backstretch, second-place Kyle Busch tried both ways to get around Martin. At this time, Kenseth began bump-drafting Harvick, with Burton in tow. Harvick flew by David Stremme, David Gilliland, Mike Wallace, David Ragan, and Greg Biffle. On the last lap, Kyle Busch's shifting around, trying to get around Martin and block Harvick at the same, caused him to get loose. Harvick zipped past Busch. Harvick and Martin, Busch and Kenseth, and Biffle and Burton were side-by-side out of turn 4. Kyle Busch hit the apron, getting him loose. He spun out and starts a chain reaction collecting many cars. Clint Bowyer took the worst hit, turning over on his roof, skidding across the finish line on his roof while on fire before uprighting himself in the grass. Harvick beat Martin by .02 of a second to claim the victory. After being 6th place out of turn 4, Jeff Burton finished 3rd. Mike Wallace and David Ragan were surprises, rounding out the top-5.
Read more about this topic: 2007 Daytona 500
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