JGR Race Report - Phoenix
Date: Nov. 11, 2007
Event: Checker Auto Parts 500k (Round 35 of 36)
Series: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Location: Phoenix International Raceway (1-mile oval)
Winner: Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
JGR Finish: Tony Stewart (Started 21st, Finished 4th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
J.J. Yeley (Started 4th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
Denny Hamlin (Started 15th, Finished 16th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet, led the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) contingent at Phoenix International Raceway by finishing fourth in Sunday’s Checker Auto Parts 500k NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race. It was Stewart’s 11th top-five this season and his sixth career top-five at Phoenix.
J.J. Yeley, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for JGR, finished 14th to score his 10th top-15 of 2007.
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Chevrolet for JGR, finished 16th.
Stewart and Hamlin are JGR’s representatives in this year’s 12-driver Chase for the Nextel Cup. Stewart’s fourth-place finish bumped him up one spot to fifth in points. The two-time Nextel Cup champion is 66 points ahead of sixth-place Matt Kenseth and only 16 points behind fourth-place and future JGR driver Kyle Busch. A much more daunting 403 points separates Stewart from championship leader Jimmie Johnson.
Hamlin, meanwhile, dropped to 12th in points, 36 markers behind 11th-place Martin Truex Jr., and 599 points arrears Johnson.
Yeley’s 14th-place finish kept him 20th in points.
With only one race remaining, just the top-two drivers, Johnson and second-place Jeff Gordon, remain mathematically eligible for this year’s championship. The two drivers are separated by 86 points. Johnson can clinch his second straight Nextel Cup championship with an 18th-place finish or better in next week’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Johnson won the Checker Auto Parts 500k to score his 33rd career Nextel Cup victory, his fourth straight and his 10th this season. Johnson became the eighth driver in the last 36 years, and the first since Gordon in 1998, to win four consecutive races.
Greg Biffle finished .870 of a second behind Johnson, while Kenseth, Stewart and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five. Kevin Harvick, Truex, Busch, Jeff Burton and Gordon comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were 10 caution periods for 42 laps, with six drivers failing to finish the 312-lap race.
The Nextel Cup season concludes on Sunday, Nov. 18 with the running of the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EST with live, high-definition coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 3 p.m.
