This race did feature a good battle near the end of the race as Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart traded the lead back and forth with just 12 laps to go. However Gordon had too much for Stewart at the end and took the win.
Jeff Gordon showed a lot of class this weekend as he scored his first ever career win at Phoenix International Raceway. This win also tied him on the all-time NEXTEL Cup win list with the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Qualifying
Jeff Gordon set the fastest time in qualifying to put his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy on the pole. Jamie McMurray started second in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Row two was made up of Denny Hamlin's Chevrolet and Scott Riggs' Dodge. Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Drop The Green Flag
Jeff Gordon jumped out to the early lead as the inside line moved forward. Denny Hamlin settled into second place but tracked down Gordon for the lead. It was all clean and green through lap 27 when Denny Hamlin took over the top spot as Gordon's car was pushing.
The first yellow flew for debris on lap 36. This sent everybody to pit road but the top three remained the same. Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch were the top three as the green flag flew to send them back on their way.
Storylines
Not much excitement tonight which allowed us to focus on the manufacturer's battle. So far the 2007 NEXTEL Cup season has been dominated by Chevrolet. Chevy drivers have won all but one race so far this season. Tonight's race in Phoenix was more of the same as Chevy drivers dominated once again.
Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin dominated much of the night. All of them are Chevrolet Impala SS drivers. Matt Kenseth is the only Ford driver to manage a win so far this season. He was the top Ford finisher tonight and the only non-Chevy in the top seven.
Will anyone be able to break the Chevy stranglehold on NASCAR?
Chasing The Checkers
The yellow flew with just 29 laps to go setting up the final round of pit stops. Jeff Gordon was caught in the pits when the yellow came out. Gordon stayed on the lead lap and ended up as the leader when everyone else pitted.
Stewart was right behind Gordon with Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson running third and fourth as they took the green flag with 19 laps remaining.
Gordon got hung up with the lapped car of Martin Truex Jr. and Tony Stewart got around him. Gordon got a good bite two laps later and passed him back for the top spot with just 12 laps to go. Jeff Gordon got up on the wheel then and put a small gap between himself and Tony Stewart. Gordon rolled it home for the east win.
This was Jeff Gordon's 76 career NEXTEL Cup win. This tied him in modern era wins with Dale Earnhardt Sr. I thought it was a really classy touch for Gordon to honor The Intimidator. If Earnhardt Sr. hadn't been abruptly taken from us in 2001 I believe he would have had more than 76 wins by now.
I really enjoyed seeing Gordon tipping his hat to history as he rolls through the record books. That was a nice move by Jeff Gordon and the Hendrick Motorsports team.
Top Ten
- Jeff Gordon
- Tony Stewart
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Jeff Green
- Kyle Busch
- Bobby Labonte
- Johnny Sauter
- Kevin Harvick
The Points
Jeff Gordon extended his point lead with the big Phoenix win as the top five drivers in points all held their positions. The battle for the twelfth and final Chase spot saw a change this week as David Stremme fell six positions to 18th and Kevin Harvick jumped three spots up to eleventh to replace him in the critical top twelve.
The top twelve are now:
- Jeff Gordon -0
- Jeff Burton -74
- Matt Kenseth -160
- Jimmie Johnson -211
- Denny Hamlin -242
- Kyle Busch -324
- Tony Stewart -332
- Carl Edwards -359
- Clint Bowyer -363
- Mark Martin -405
- Kevin Harvick -424
- Jamie McMurray -427
Next Week
Talladega Superspeedway hosts the NEXTEL Cup stars next week. The old cars will return for this restrictor plate race as teams must adjust yet again to the switch. This back and forth between the Car of Tomorrow and the old-style cars is very difficult for the teams and drivers. I hope that NASCAR changes their minds and goes to the CoT full-time in 2008.
