JGR Race Report - Homestead
Date: Nov. 18, 2007
Event: Ford 400 (Round 36 of 36)
Series: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Winner: Matt Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing (Ford)
Champion: Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
JGR Finish: Denny Hamlin (Started 32nd, Finished 3rd / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
Tony Stewart (Started 14th, Finished 30th / Running, completed 264 of 267 laps)
J.J. Yeley (Started 24th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 263 of 267 laps)
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Chevrolet, led the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) contingent at Homestead-Miami Speedway by finishing third in Sunday’s season-ending Ford 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race. It was Hamlin’s 12th top-five finish of the season.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for JGR, was in the top-10 before a late-race spin caused him to finish a disappointing 30th.
J.J. Yeley, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for JGR, finished 31st. It was Yeley’s 78th and final Nextel Cup race for JGR, as he will move to Hall of Fame Racing in 2008, where he’ll drive the No. 96 DLP HDTV Toyota.
Stewart and Hamlin were JGR’s representatives in this year’s 12-driver Chase for the Nextel Cup. Stewart’s 30th-place finish dropped him one spot to sixth in the final point standings. Hamlin, meanwhile, held onto his 12th-place standing.
Yeley’s 31st-place finish dropped him one spot to 21st in points.
Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team of Hendrick Motorsports won this year’s Nextel Cup championship. It is the second straight championship for Johnson and the seventh Nextel Cup title for Hendrick Motorsports.
Matt Kenseth dominated the Ford 400 by leading eight times for a race-high 214 laps en route to his 16th career Nextel Cup victory, his second this season and his first at Homestead. Kurt Busch finished .852 of a second behind Kenseth, while Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five. Martin Truex Jr., Johnson, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and David Ragan comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were seven caution periods for 32 laps, with three drivers failing to finish the 267-lap race.
The 2008 season of the newly named NASCAR Sprint Cup Series kicks off Feb. 8-17 with the traditional Speedweeks at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The 50th Daytona 500, the first point-paying race of the season, is scheduled for Feb. 17 and will be broadcast live and in high-definition on FOX.
