Casey Mears Scores First NEXTEL Cup Win with 2007 Coca-Cola 600 Victory

The 2007 Coca-Cola 600 had an interesting finish after a long night. The first 100 miles were marred by two multi-car accidents that damaged nearly half of the field. The final 100 laps were all about fuel mileage as a number of fast cars had to drop off for gas in the final ten laps. Casey Mears had enough and scored the first win of his NEXTEL Cup career.

Qualifying

Penske Racing wrapped up the front row with their Dodge entries as Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch qualified in the top two spots. Elliott Sadler was third in his Ray Evernham Dodge. Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr started fourth in his Dale Earnhardt Inc Chevy. Roush-Fenway Ford driver Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.

Drop The Green Flag

Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch got away to the early lead. On lap ten Newman let his teammate Kurt Busch get his five points for leading. Kurt stayed out to lead until the first round of pit stops when Greg Biffle cut down a tire and hit the wall around lap 40.

This was when all craziness broke loose. Shortly after this restart there were two nearly back-to-back big wrecks. Between these two wrecks 21 cars were involved. Favorites such as Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton were involved.

At the front Kurt Busch maintained the lead through he first 100 laps and beyond.

Storylines

Toyota looked like a real contender for the first time since they entered NEXTEL Cup racing. Brian Vickers lead a big chunk of the middle of the race and managed Toyota's first top five finish in NEXTEL Cup racing.

Will the Coca-Cola 600 mark the turning point for Toyota? This was a promising race for the Red Bull Racing team as Vickers was able to control the middle portion of the race.

Chasing The Checkers

With 57 laps to go the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 was set up as a fuel mileage race. Some teams felt that they could make it to the end and other teams could not.

Tony Stewart had the lead over Casey Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr. With twenty laps to go Casey Mears started backing up as he was taking it easy, trying to conserve fuel.

With ten to go Jimmie Johnson dropped out of fourth place for a splash of gas. Mark Martin then pitted from fifth place with nine to go and Tony Stewart pitted out of the lead on the next lap.

That handed the lead to Dale Earnhardt Jr. who pitted the next time by. Denny Hamlin took his turn pitting from the lead with five laps to go. This left Casey Mears in the lead. Mears had no intention of pitting. He was going to win or run out of gas.

Mears peddled his National Guard Chevy home to the first win of his career. Mears then ran out of gas on the victory lap. Hendrick Motorsports is now perfect as all four Hendrick teammates have won in 2007.

Top Ten

1. Casey Mears
2. J.J. Yeley
3. Kyle Petty
4. Reed Sorenson
5. Brian Vickers
6. Tony Stewart
7. Ricky Rudd
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Jimmie Johnson

The Points

Jeff Gordon's early crash caused him to finish a dismal 41st. This allowed Jimmie Johnson to shave almost 100 points off of the lead but Gordon is still out front.

The top twelve drivers stayed the same as no new drivers made it into the all-important Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.

The top twelve are now:

1. Jeff Gordon -0
2. Jimmie Johnson -132
3. Matt Kenseth -207
4. Denny Hamlin -239
5. Jeff Burton -344
6. Tony Stewart -391
7. Kevin Harvick -506
8. Carl Edwards -507
9. Kurt Busch -519
10. Clint Bowyer -543
11. Kyle Busch -562
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -601

Next Week

Next week Dover International Speedway will play host to the NEXTEL Cup stars. 400 laps on the one-mile concrete oval will chew up cars and drivers. They call this The Monster Mile and for good reason. In many ways 400 miles in Dover are tougher than 600 miles at Lowes Motor Speedway.