2007_Nextel_All-Star_Challenge

2007 Nextel All-Star Challenge

2007 Nextel All-Star Challenge

23rd iteration of the NASCAR All-Star Race

The 2007 Nextel Open and Nextel All-Star Challenge was a professional auto race held on Saturday, May 19, 2007, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.[1] North Carolina native and former NBA MVP Michael Jordan was the grand marshal of the event.

Race and qualifying format

All-Star Challenge

NASCAR's All-Star Challenge is an exhibition race which uses a different format. Similarly to the All-Star games in other North American sports leagues, it does not affect the championship standings. Race winners (either drivers or teams) in the 2006 and the first eleven races of the 2007 seasons, plus former Winston/Nextel Cup Champions and All-Star event winners from the past decade, automatically qualify for the main event. On restarts of the race after caution flags, the cars line up in a double file restart, akin to the start of a regulation race. A description of how the race was reformatted for the 2007 running can be found here.

Qualifying for this event is different from qualifying in NASCAR. Those entered for the main event take three timed qualifying laps (instead of the usual two laps used in all sanctioned oval races), but they must take a required pit stop for four tires after either the first or second lap, coming in at the pit road speed (in the case of LMS, 45 miles per hour), with no speed limit on exits. Infractions will also incur time penalties. Starting in 2007, the selection of the pit boxes used by teams was made after the annual Pit Crew Challenge event to be held three days earlier at Charlotte Bobcats Arena, won by the Ryan Newman No. 12 team. In the qualifying, Matt Kenseth won the pole. Kevin Harvick was bumper-to-bumper with Jimmie Johnson coming to the start/finish line to win the race.

Nextel Open

All other drivers or teams that are in the Nextel Cup Top 50 owners or drivers points that do not automatically qualify for the All-Star Challenge are entered into a 40-lap, a two-half event called the Nextel Open. Only the top two drivers, plus one additional driver on the lead lap that is voted in by fans on the World Wide Web via Sprint/Nextel's website, their customers, and attendees of the race, join the elite field. Standard qualifying rules applied for those in this event, which saw Carl Edwards win "P-1" (a.k.a. the pole position), edging fellow Roush-Fenway teammate David Ragan. The Nextel Open was won by Martin Truex Jr. Johnny Sauter finished second.

Kobalt Tools Crew Chief Race

Before the All-Star Challenge, a new preliminary race was held between Nextel Cup crew chiefs—the Kobalt Tools Crew Chief Race.[2] The race comprised eighteen crew chiefs driving small Legends Thunder Roadster cars on the quarter-mile oval in front of the main track's grandstand and was televised in the United States on Speed.[2] NASCAR on ESPN color commentator and former crew chief, Andy Petree won the main event, earning a $10,000 donation for any charity of his choice.[2][3] The charities he decided to donate the race winnings to were Motor Racing Outreach and Mud Creek Baptist Church.[2]

List of 2007 qualifiers

The following drivers qualified after they won at least one race in the 2006 or 2007 seasons, in order of their qualifying win:

The following drivers qualified as a result of driving a car that won a race in 2006 with a different driver:

The following drivers qualified as a result of being a former Nextel Cup champion (since 1997):

The following drivers qualified as a result of being a former winner of the Nextel All-Star Challenge (since 1997):

The following drivers qualified via the Nextel Open:

Also qualifying, the 2007 Fan Vote Winner:

Entry List

The Open

  • (R) = Rookie
More information #, Driver ...

All-Star Challenge

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Qualifying

The Open

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All-Star Challenge

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* - Won the Showdown

** - Showdown runner up

*** - Fan Vote winner

The Open

Martin Truex Jr. won the Nextel Open, which was the first win for him of any kind in a Nextel Cup race. Johnny Sauter edged out Carl Edwards for the second transfer spot in this race.

The 40-lap race was stopped four times due to caution, including a 10-car incident halfway through lap 1 in which, among other things, the hoods of the cars driven by David Gilliland and Juan Pablo Montoya collided.

Kenny Wallace won the fan vote, partly due to a large Get out the vote campaign mounted by Speed Channel, where he worked as an analyst.

The Challenge

Kevin Harvick passed Jeff Burton at the start of the fourth and final segment and won the event for the first time in his career. Harvick won $1,031,539, which at the time was the largest amount awarded to an all-star race winner. Jimmie Johnson finished second, and Mark Martin finished third.

Burton had inherited the lead from Matt Kenseth, who was sent to the tail end of the longest line due to speeding on pit road during the break between segments three and four. During this break, teams had to visit the pits at least once, but no service was required. Kenseth decided on the visit and also won the first segment. Kyle Busch was first at the end of the second segment.

It was the fourth win for Richard Childress Racing after three wins by Dale Earnhardt.

This race was also notable for a crash between brothers Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch. They touched entering turn 1 with 18 laps to go, sending both into the wall rear-first. In an interview after the incident, Kurt Busch joked that he would not "be eating Kellogg's anytime soon," referring to Kyle Busch's sponsor.

Results

The Open

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All-Star Challenge

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References

  1. [1]
    FATHEAD(R) to Celebrate 2007 NASCAR Day; Company Shows Support of NASCAR Day. Retrieved from: http://foundation.nascar.com/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?&pid=543&srcid=183. Archived 2013-07-05.
  2. [2]
    "Kobalt Tools Crew Chief Race Added To All-Star Lineup". Charlotte Motor Speedway. Speedway Motorsports, Inc. May 17, 2007. Archived from the original on June 4, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  3. [3]
    "Petree Wins Crew Chief Race". Motor Racing Network. May 19, 2007. Archived from the original on May 31, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
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