This is the last chance for drivers to make the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge and drivers were willing to lay it all on the line to get a shot at the $1,000,000 payday.
The NEXTEL Open
The race track was very slick and started claiming victims right away. In turn one of the very first lap Juan Pablo Montoya lost control slid up the track and wrecked a lot of race cars. The entire NEXTEL Open was full of messes just like this as the drivers never got going without somebody causing a caution.
Carl Edwards got good restarts (and he needed a number of them) to maintain his pole starting spot and cross the line first in the first segment.
The leaders stayed out and Carl Edwards again got a great restart to kick off the final twenty laps of the Open. Johnny Sauter had a fast horse in third as he reeled in Martin Truex Jr. for second with just five laps to go. Truex got past Edwards on the top with two laps to go and then Sauter got under Edwards on the same lap. Martin Truex Jr. and Johnny Sauter transferred to the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge.
The field was set except for the driver voted into the NEXTEL All-Star race by the fans. For 2007 that honor goes to "The Herminator" Kenny Wallace. Wallace is the 21st and final starter in the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge
The stage is set. Next up are four twenty-lap segments known as the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge where the winner will take home a million-dollar paycheck.
