The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 59th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 36th modern-era Cup series. Beginning on February 10 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout, the season ended on November 18 at Homestead–Miami Speedway with the Ford 400. The Chase for the Nextel Cup started with the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire and was contested over the final ten races.
The season was the final year that the NASCAR Cup Series was known as the Nextel Cup Series. As a result of the 2005 merger of Nextel with Sprint Corporation, and the subsequent decision by the newly named Sprint Nextel, the name of the series was changed to the Sprint Cup Series for 2008. The 2007 season was the first year in NASCAR history in which no North Carolina drivers found victory lane. This was also the final year for the Chevrolet Monte Carlo which was replaced by the Chevrolet Impala during the Car of Tomorrow races and full time in 2008. This 2007 season marks the first season in the Nextel Cup Series to feature Toyota, using the Camry model.
Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports won his second consecutive championship, with teammate Jeff Gordon finishing second. Chevrolet captured the NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship with 26 wins, and 290 points over second-place Ford who had 7 wins and 208 points. Dodge finished third with 3 wins and 178 points and Toyota, in their first NEXTEL Cup season, finished out with no wins and 116 points.
Top stories and controversies
Changes in the points system and The Chase It was officially announced on January 22 at the annual NASCAR Media Tour in Charlotte, North Carolina that two changes were made for the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup.
The first is that wins became more important. The driver who finishes first now received 185 points instead of 180. Including the five bonus points for leading a lap and the possible five bonus points for leading the most laps, a driver could now get a maximum of 195 points for winning a race.
The other changes involved the actual Chase. The Top 12 drivers after the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 automatically qualified for the 2007 Chase. Additionally, each driver had their points reset to 5,000, plus ten for each win during the first 26 races. However, when the season ended, only the Top 10 drivers would be honored at the annual banquet in New York City at the Waldorf Astoria New York.
Car of Tomorrow
NASCAR introduced a new car style known as the "Car of Tomorrow" for use in sixteen races in 2007. This car was the result of a design program that started after the death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500. It was intended to offer improvements in safety, performance, competition, and cost efficiency. Plans for a partial schedule in 2008 were expanded to full usage after race results and owner feedback led to acceptance of the new car. Some drivers, however, offered criticism over the decision, thinking that the new design led to boring, uncompetitive races.
AT&T, Inc. vs. NASCAR AT&T and BellSouth's Cingular brand, sponsor of Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 car, was legally renamed AT&T upon BellSouth acquisition by AT&T, and has been phased out. This is not allowed under the grandfather clause in the original sponsorship agreement between the former Nextel Communications (now Sprint Nextel) with NASCAR and on March 16, it was announced that AT&T had filed suit in Atlanta Federal Court seeking to overturn said grandfather clause because of this and allow AT&T decals on the car. A judge ruled that RCR was allowed to put AT&T decals on the car on May 18, and the decals made their debut the following night in the Nextel All-Star Challenge. NASCAR originally had a say when the judge ruled in RCR's favor, but that was later rescinded.
The legal wrangling continued as on June 17, NASCAR countersued AT&T for 100 million. NASCAR won the appeal on August 13, and eleven days later at Bristol, NASCAR ordered AT&T logos removed from the No. 31 car, and AT&T filed for an injunction to get the decals back on. Sprint Nextel, AT&T, and NASCAR settled their differences on September 7, and the AT&T logos were placed back on Burton's ride in time for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400. These features would remain on the car's body for the rest of the season and into 2008, but RCR afterwards found a new sponsor to replace AT&T. When Caterpillar signed on for the 2009 season, the team agreed to have them as the No. 31's main sponsor.
Robby Gordon and Motorola Motorola is an associate sponsor on Robby Gordon's No. 7 car. When his self-owned team, however, tried to put a Motorola decal on the car for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 18, NASCAR ruled that this was in breach of the exclusivity clause with Sprint Nextel (even though Nextel uses Motorola phones) because NASCAR noticed this deal was part of Cellco Partnership (a joint partnership of Verizon and Vodafone better known as the trade name Verizon Wireless), which (legally) sponsored his Busch Series car. NASCAR and Sprint later relented as it was decided to allow Motorola's Audio Products Division to be the main sponsor.
Shell logo controversy Another controversy surrounded Shell and Sunoco. Sunoco does exclusively supply gasoline to NASCAR, yet Richard Childress Racing signed Shell and their Pennzoil brand to the No. 29 car driven by Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick. During the 500, the car had large Shell decals and large Shell logos on uniforms worn by Harvick and his team. Shell logos were ordered to be smaller for the following week's race at Auto Club. This was likely done at Sunoco's request since a rival gasoline company sponsored a car winning NASCAR's premier event, having taken away publicity from an official sponsor.
Mark Martin's schedule The other concerned the part-time schedule being undertaken by Mark Martin. Through the spring Atlanta race, Martin held the points lead. Because he had planned a part-time schedule in the No. 01 Ginn Racing United States Army ride, Martin reiterated that he would not run in all 36 races on the circuit despite finishing second in the Daytona 500. He relinquished the lead by passing on the spring races at Bristol and Martinsville. Rookie drivers Regan Smith and Aric Almirola drove the No. 01 car in those races, as owner points had that car an exempt team for Bristol (from 2006) and Martinsville. However, Martin extended his schedule to include a few more points races, but did not race the full season.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. signs 5-year contract with Hendrick Motorsports On May 10, it was announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be leaving the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet following the conclusion of the season as he could not get a contract extension with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the driving team his father founded and run by his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt. Speculation according to WFXT in Boston had him going to Richard Childress Racing where the "unretirement" of the No. 3 car that his father drove to seven then-Winston Cup championships and the 1998 Daytona 500 would have happened. Other rumors had him going to Joe Gibbs Racing, or had him starting a Nextel Cup team with the organization he owns that fields Busch Series cars, JR Motorsports. However, at a press conference on June 13, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced a five-year deal to join Hendrick Motorsports. He replaced Kyle Busch, who at the time drove the No. 5 Chevrolet; he subsequently joined Joe Gibbs Racing to replace J. J. Yeley in the No. 18 Toyota. Busch was replaced in the No. 5 by Casey Mears. On September 19, it was announced that Jr. had signed on to drive Hendrick's new No. 88 Mountain Dew Amp/National Guard Chevrolet.Earnhardt to join Hendrick Motorsports for '08 season NASCAR.com. Accessed July 11, 2007. Archived 2009-05-16. Junior's crew chief at DEI, Tony Eury Jr. will make the move with him, leaving his position after the fall race at Talladega.
Merger Mania Before the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR team owner Jack Roush announced the selloff of 50% of his team, Roush Racing to the Fenway Sports Group, who owns the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team. The newly formed alliance between two differing sports markets involved the team name to change to Roush Fenway Racing. However, this was only the beginning of what was referred to as "Merger mania".
The week before the Brickyard 400 became the week NASCAR was all shaken up in the ownership boxes. On July 24, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. merged with Ginn Racing, inheriting the No. 01 US Army ride of Mark Martin and Aric Almirola, putting the points earned by the No. 14 team points earned to Paul Menard's No. 15 team and the closure of the No. 13 team while releasing Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek. The next day, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, a regular in the Champ Car World Series, returned after a prolonged absence by buying Robert Yates Racing NASCAR team, and renamed the combined operation Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. With the announced retirement of Robert Yates, however, the merger was called off and the team was named Yates Racing with Robert's son Doug Yates at the helm. Another merger was announced on August 6 when former crew chief Ray Evernham announced the merger of his team, Evernham Motorsports, with George N. Gillett Jr., owner of the National Hockey League team the Montreal Canadiens and co-owner of the English Premier League soccer team Liverpool. The merger was similar to the Roush Fenway merger as the new team was called Gillett Evernham Motorsports. During the weekend of the Sharp AQUOS 500, Hall of Fame Racing owners Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, former football players for the Dallas Cowboys, announced their merger with Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Jeff Moorad and COO Tom Garfinkel. Michael Waltrip Racing, a company created as a 50–50 partnership between Robert Kauffman and Michael Waltrip, was announced the weekend of the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte. Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, originally formed MWR in 1996. Cal Wells, himself a former owner in NASCAR was named the team's chief executive officer.
Joe Gibbs Racing to Toyota During the season rumors began to surface that Joe Gibbs Racing, owned by then-Washington Commanders coach Joe Gibbs, would be switching to the new manufacturer Toyota for the 2008 season. This switch would be significant for several reasons, one of them being that JGR had been allied with General Motors since its inception in 1992, first with Chevrolet then beginning in 1997 with Pontiac, then switched back to Chevrolet in 2003, a year before Pontiac left NASCAR. The switch to Toyota would benefit the manufacturer itself, as they would be allied with a championship-caliber team. As JGR loans equipment to Hall of Fame Racing, the team confirmed that they would also switch to Toyota if JGR did so. On September 5, the rumors were confirmed.
Dale Jarrett announces retirement During the race weekend for the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Michael Waltrip Racing held a press conference. During the announcement, besides the announcement of a new part-owner on Robert Kaufmann and Cal Wells being named CEO, it was revealed to the racing world that 1999 Cup champion and three-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett would retire from full-time driving following the end of the 2007 season. In 2008, Jarrett drove in the first five points races, then handed the No. 44 Toyota to David Reutimann for the Goody's Cool Orange 500. As Jarrett was the 1999 champion, entering the first five races, regardless of his previous standings, guaranteed his No. 44 in the field, as well as driving in the Clash and the All-Star Race.
Teams and drivers Each Nextel Cup race had a field of 43 cars.