Qualifying
Ryan Newman was fastest in qualifying to put his Penske Dodge on the pole. Mr. Lowes Motor Speedway Jimmie Johnson put his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy on the outside of the front row.
Bobby Labonte had a good run to start third in the Petty Dodge #43. Point leader Jeff Gordon started on the outside of row number two in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five in the Gillete Evernham Motorsports #9 Dodge.
Drop Of The Green
Ryan Newman got the jump on the green flag but David Reutimann was bitten by tricky turn four on the first lap. That brought out the first caution before the field even completed one lap.
After another early caution Jamie McMurray took control of the race. McMurray, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch were the class of the field through the early part of the race.
Storylines
This was another tough week for Chasers. Kevin Harvick made two early pit stops for tires because the car wasn't feeling right to him. It was a tire problem but Harvick was three laps down by the time they got his problem resolved.
Matt Kenseth had another terrible race. Kenseth was involved in three separate incidents. This was the fourth bad race for Kenseth in a row. Matt Kenseth now has a solid grip on twelfth place in points.
Tony Stewart had an incident on pit road where he took some damage. It didn't look good but Tony was able to battle back to claim a seventh place finish.
Kurt Busch also took a hit on pit road. Busch damaged the right front corner of his car while coming out of his pit stall. The older Busch brother ended up two laps down in 26th.
With just over 100 laps to go Jimmie Johnson spun off of turn two and bent the right rear corner of the car. Johnson restarted in 29th and battled back over the final 150 miles into the top ten only to run out of fuel late in the race and finish fourteenth.
Chasing The Checkers
Jeff Gordon had a big lead before the yellow flew with eleven laps to go. None of the leaders pitted which set up a Gordon, Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer top three when the green flag flew with five laps to go.
Jeff Gordon's car sputtered on the restart and Ryan Newman took advantage and drove to the lead. Just two laps later leader Ryan Newman crashed in turn two. This set up a green-white-checkers overtime finish with all of the top three drivers running on fumes.
Jeff Gordon got a good restart that time with Clint Bowyer hot on his heels. As long as Jeff Gordon had enough fuel then he had the car to beat. Gordon kept his car running all the way to the checkers and through the burnout to claim the 2007 Bank of America 500.
Top Ten
- Jeff Gordon
- Clint Bowyer
- Kyle Busch
- Jeff Burton
- Carl Edwards
- Dave Blaney
- Tony Stewart
- Kasey Kahne
- David Stremme
- Michael Waltrip
The Points
The best way to protect your point lead? Win! Jeff Gordon stretched his point lead over his teammate Jimmie Johnson to 68 points.
The top twelve are now:
- Jeff Gordon
- Jimmie Johnson -68
- Clint Bowyer -78
- Tony Stewart -198
- Carl Edwards -240
- Kyle Busch -280
- Kurt Busch -315
- Kevin Harvick -328
- Denny Hamlin -349
- Jeff Burton -366
- Martin Truex Jr. -378
- Matt Kenseth -442
Next Week
From the high speeds of Lowes Motor Speedway the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup moves on to the tight confines of Martinsville Speedway. This tight paperclip shaped half-mile short track hosts the only short track race in the 2007 Chase. If you like tight bumping and grinding then this is the Chase race for you.
