2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350

Live television coverage of the race began at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time in the United States on TNT. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were sunny, clear, and breezy. Tina Coleman began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation. Actress and singer-songwriter Emmy Rossum performed the national anthem, and retired football wide receiver Jerry Rice along with Mike Wells of the Northern California Toyota Dealers commanded the drivers to start their engines. No drivers moved to the rear of the field.^[1][20][21]

The race started at 5:22 p.m. McMurray maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first corner, while Stewart fell down the field after he ran wide at the second turn but did not damage his car. Robby Gordon and Earnahrdt moved into the first and second positions, as McMurray dropped to third. The race's first caution was prompted on lap two when Goossens, Kenseth and Kyle Petty made contact in the eleventh turn; Goossens was unable to restart his car. Some drivers made pit stops for fuel and tires under caution. Kenseth and Petty had damage to their cars repaired. Robby Gordon maintained his lead at the lap-five restart, ahead of Earnhardt and McMurray. Three laps later, Earnhardt attempted to pass Robby Gordon at the esses but was unable to complete the manoeuvre. After starting from 32nd, Montoya had moved up into 20th by the 13th lap. Sterling Marlin's engine failed on lap 14, and the race's second caution was issued one lap later because he stopped in turn eight. Some drivers elected to make pit stops during the caution.^[1][20]

Robby Gordon remained the leader for the lap-17 restart, followed by Earnhardt and McMurray. Kyle Busch attempted to pass Montoya in turn eleven but locked his brakes and spun; he avoided contacting the wall but fell to the rear of the field. McMurray passed Earnhardt for second on the following lap. Eight laps later, a brake duct was located in turn four, which triggered the third caution. Robby Gordon led the field back up to speed at the lap-30 restart. Montoya and Johnson made contact on the 32nd lap. Green-flag pit stops began on the next lap when Earnhardt made a pit stop for tires and fuel. McMurray reclaimed the first position when Robby Gordon made his pit stop on lap 35; McMurray held it for the next lap and succeeded it to Johnson as other lead lap drivers made similar pit stops. Hamlin took over the lead when he out-braked Johnson in turn eleven on lap 37. Stewart took over the lead on the 41st lap when Hamlin made his pit stop. Fellows took over the position on the next lap, before the fourth caution was displayed on lap 44 when a large piece of metal was located at the start-finish line.^[1][20]

Fellows chose to pit under caution, and Edwards led the field at the lap-46 restart; he was followed by Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson, Jones and David Stremme. On lap 49, Kahne and Bobby Labonte made contact which resulted in Labonte spinning; similarly, Joe Nemechek spun at turn eleven and his rear-end hit the tire barriers, all three drivers continued. Robby Gordon moved back up into second when he passed Kyle Busch three laps later. Jarrett battled with Johnny Sauter for position on lap 53, and both drivers made contact; Jarrett spun in turn four and subsequently stalled. The incident prompted the race's fifth caution. Edwards led the field at the lap-56 restart, followed by Robby Gordon. On the same lap, Robby Gordon passed Edwards to retake the lead. The sixth caution was triggered on the next lap when Ragan spun on the chute before entering turn ten; he went through the grass, and was unable to restart his engine. Robby Gordon led the field back to racing speed on the lap-59 restart, followed by Edwards, Kyle Busch, McMurray and Said. McMurray moved up into second position by lap 62 after he passed Kyle Busch and Edwards.^[1][20]

Leitzinger spun into the grass on lap 61, but rejoined the track. On the following lap, Kurt Busch spun sideways in turn eleven after Montoya got into his rear-end and managed to restart his engine despite falling down the order. Sorenson spun off the track, and hit the wall. He continued but spun a second time in turn seven after he clipped a curb which caused the race's seventh (and final) caution. Several drivers chose to pit under caution. McMurray and Edwards made pit stops for fuel and tires, while Said stalled which required his pit crew to push-start his car. Jeff Green collided with teammate Sauter on pit road and damaged his right-front fender. Green was observed speeding, but his race ended after his right-front tire caught fire. Robby Gordon elected not to make a pit stop and remained the leader at the lap-70 restart. Stewart out-braked Robby Gordon to take over the lead on the same lap, while Gordon lost a further position to Earnhardt when he was passed in turn eleven. Earnhardt ceded second position when he made a scheduled pit stop for four tires and fuel two laps later. Robby Gordon made a similar stop on the 75th lap, and Stewart did the same which allowed McMurray to reclaim the lead.^[1][20]

Kenseth spun off into the grass on lap 75; he recovered after correcting his car and continued. Nemechek spun a second time at turn eleven but restarted his car on the following lap. By the 86th lap, McMurray led Harvick, Montoya, Kyle Busch and Burton, and the gap between the top three drivers was at 1.3 seconds five laps later. Harvick was passed by Montoya around the inside at turn eleven on lap 92. Five laps later, McMurray reported his car's engine was cutting out at several points around the track. Montoya made contact with McMurray while attempting to pass him, but McMurray held the first position. Montoya tried again on lap 102 by taking the inside line into turn eleven and momentarily moved in front of McMurray, but ran deep into the corner which allowed McMurray to retain the lead. Two laps later, Montoya passed McMurray around the inside entering turn four to take over the lead. Stewart moved ahead of Jeff Gordon but slid and made contact with Gordon on the 106th lap. Fourth-place runner Edwards ran out of fuel two laps later and drove to pit road; McMurray slowed after running low on fuel. Montoya conserved fuel for the remaining two laps to win his first career victory in the Nextel Cup Series.^[1][20] He became the first foreign-born driver to win in the series since Earl Ross won the 1974 Old Dominion 500, as well as the first Hispanic, and was Chip Ganassi Racing's first victory since October 2002.^[1][22] Harvick finished second, ahead of Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton in third, Bowyer in fourth and Greg Biffle fifth. Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Said and Hamlin rounded out the top ten finishers. The race had seven cautions and eleven lead changes by eight different drivers during the race.^[2]

Montoya appeared in victory lane to celebrate his first career victory in the Nextel Cup Series in front of the crowd; earning $310,600 for the victory.^[2] He said that he was "more relieved than excited" as he was given high expectations that he would perform well in NASCAR.^[23] He also stated: "It's huge. I would say right now it's the biggest thing I've done. In open-wheel, that's what I was meant to be winning in. In stock cars, I wasn't. To get our first win in our first year is huge. We know we're a little bit behind on some of the ovals, but I think this is a big boost for everybody working in the shop."^[24] Harvick, who finished in second, felt Montoya did not have sufficient fuel to reach the race's conclusion: "I've been a big fan of Montoya's since he came over. He's a great road racer, but he wasn't the fastest. The strategy won it for him today."^[24] Third-place finisher Burton was happy with his finishing position: "Obviously we worked really hard all last year and this year on fuel mileage and it paid off for us today. It was a good run for us. We ran competitive all race long."^[25]

Jeff Gordon was happy with the way his race was run: "I thought (crew chief) Steve Letarte and everyone on our team just called this race perfectly to come from that far back to a top 10. We played the (pit) strategy the best way we possibly could and we had some cautions fall our way, which was some good fortune for us to gain some spots."^[21] Fifth-place finisher Biffle said his car felt good but felt it was difficult to overtake other drivers.^[21] Robby Gordon, who led 48 laps (the most of any driver) was disappointed by finishing in 16th position: "Not to make excuses, but we were gonna run out of fuel. It's disappointing that we had a car as fast as we had, started on the front row, and not just get beat but finish 16th." He said he hoped any problems with his fuel mileage would be resolved by the season's second road course event at Watkins Glen.^[26]

Two days after the race, Hendrick Motorsports was given penalties for Jeff Gordon's and Johnson's cars. The penalties, for actions detrimental to stock car racing, car, car parts, components and/or equipment used that did not conform to NASCAR rules, parts or car components not previously approved by NASCAR that were installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance, and unauthorized alterations to the car's fender, included a $100,000 fine for crew chiefs Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus who were placed on probation until December 31, 2007, and were suspended from the next six races, and the loss of 100 drivers and owners points for Rick Hendrick, Gordon and Johnson.^[27] Nextel Cup Series director John Darby said there was flaring on Johnson's and Gordon's front fenders that increased their width by one inch longer than the regulations allowed.^[28] On June 28, Hendrick Motorsports announced they would not appeal the penalties,^[29] and Johnson and Gordon later stated that they accepted the decision although they felt the penalties were harsh.^[30]

The result kept Gordon in the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 2,438 points, ahead of Hamlin in second. Kenseth and Burton moved up one positions into third and fourth, while Johnson fell to fifth position. Stewart moved in front of Edwards for sixth, while Harvick and Bowyer remained in eighth and ninth positions. Kyle Busch, Truex and Earnhardt rounded out the top twelve.^[31] Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship 135 points; Ford remained in second with 86 points. Dodge maintained third position, and Toyota remained in fourth.^[9] The race attracted a television audience of 6.5 million people.^[3] It took two hours, fifty-six minutes, and eleven seconds to complete the event, and the margin of victory was 4.097 seconds.^[2]

Pos	Grid	Car	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps run	Points
1	32	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	110	1901
2	22	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	110	170
3	6	31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	110	165
4	10	07	Clint Bowyer	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	110	160
5	17	16	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	110	155
6	5	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	110	1551
7	41	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	463
8	24	5	Kyle Busch	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	142
9	4	60	Boris Said	No Fear Racing	Ford	110	138
10	36	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	110	1391
11	28	88	Ricky Rudd	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	110	130
12	43	00	P. J. Jones	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	110	127
13	3	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	110	124
14	12	19	Elliott Sadler	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	110	121
15	11	96	Ron Fellows	Hall of Fame Racing	Chevrolet	110	123
16	2	7	Robby Gordon	Robby Gordon Motorsports	Ford	110	1252
17	42	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	1713
18	15	99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	110	1141
19	7	21	Bill Elliott	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	110	106
20	9	12	Ryan Newman	Penske Racing South	Dodge	110	103
21	33	18	J. J. Yeley	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	110	100
22	14	2	Kurt Busch	Penske Racing South	Dodge	110	97
23	8	9	Kasey Kahne	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	110	94
24	18	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	110	91
25	35	38	David Gilliland	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	110	88
26	16	44	Dale Jarrett	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	110	85
27	38	25	Casey Mears	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	110	82
28	30	23	Butch Leitzinger	Bill Davis Racing	Toyota	110	79
29	37	6	David Ragan	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	110	76
30	26	01	Regan Smith	Ginn Racing	Chevrolet	110	73
31	34	70	Johnny Sauter	Haas CNC Racing	Chevrolet	110	70
32	40	40	David Stemme	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	110	67
33	13	43	Bobby Labonte	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	109	64
34	27	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	109	61
35	25	55	Terry Labonte	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	109	58
36	21	91	Marc Goossens	Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports	Toyota	109	55
37	1	26	Jamie McMurray	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	109	521
38	39	13	Joe Nemechek	Ginn Racing	Chevrolet	109	49
39	23	45	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	108	46
40	29	41	Reed Sorenson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	105	43
41	19	22	Dave Blaney	Bill Davis Racing	Toyota	97	40
42	31	66	Jeff Green	Haas CNC Racing	Chevrolet	68	37
43	20	14	Sterling Marlin	Ginn Racing	Chevrolet	12	34
Source:[2][32][33]
1 Includes five bonus points for leading a lap
2 Includes ten bonus points for leading the most laps
3 Includes a 100-point penalty for a car infringement[27]

Previous race: 2007 Citizens Bank 400

Nextel Cup Series 2007 season

Next race: 2007 Lenox Industrial Tools 300