Kenseth Wins Finale, But Johnson Retains Cup Title
Matt Kenseth won Sunday’s Nextel Cup Ford 400, the final NASCAR race of the 2007 season, while Jimmie Johnson repeated as the series champion.
Matt Kenseth dominated most of the race for his second win of the season.
“It’s a great feeling to go out with a win,” said Matt Kenseth. “I feel like I let the fellas down, because we’ve lost a lot of close ones.”
It was the last race between Matt Kenseth and his crew chief, Robbie Reiser, who will step up to the general manager position at Roush-Fenway Racing next year.
All Jimmie Johnson had to do on Sunday was finish 18th or better to wrap up his second Nextel Cup championship. He raced very cautiously throughout the 267 laps and finished seventh.
“To win last year was so great, but to come back and not lose anything during the off-season, and win again makes it awesome,” said Johnson. “I’m so proud of this race team.
“We’ve worked very hard to be where we are and I can’t thank everyone enough for allowing me to have this success.
“I’ve been so blessed.”
Johnson finished the season 77 points ahead of his teammate Jeff Gordon, the largest margin of victory in the history of the Chase. He is also the first driver to win back-to-back championships since Jeff Gordon did it in 1997-’98.
The hot topic for the past few weeks focused on Jeff Gordon and Johnson as the two battled for the championship.
Despite coming in second, and not getting his fifth NASCAR Cup Series title, Jeff Gordon said it’s been a good year.
“You’ve got to look at what we set out to do,” he said. “It’s been a fantastic year for us. Our goals were to be consistent, to be strong. We had a few failures last year and some mistakes that were made that cost us an opportunity at it.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s season ended with more troubles. He started the race last after his team changed a transmission prior to the race, but worked his way up to 10th, before a spin on pit road forced him back to the rear of the field.
During a restart on lap 57, he was hit from behind by Jeff Burton and pushed into the outside wall. He wound up finishing six laps down in 36th position.
Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and David Ragan rounded out the top 10 finishers.
Final top 25 driver standings: 1. Johnson-6,723, 2. Jeff Gordon-6,646, 3. Bowyer-6,377, 4. Matt Kenseth-6,298, 5. Kyle Busch-6,293, 6. Tony Stewart-6,242, 7. Kurt Busch-6,231, 8. Jeff Burton-6,231, 9. Edwards-6,222, 10. Kevin Harvick-6,199, 11. Truex-6,164, 12. Denny Hamlin-6,143, 13. Newman-4,046, 14. Biffle-3,991, 15. Mears-3,949, 16. Earnhardt-3,929, 17. McMurray-3,556, 18. B. Labonte-3,517, 19. Kahne-3,489, 20. Montoya-3,487, 21. Yeley-3,456, 22. Sorenson-3,275, 23. Ragan-3,251, 24. Stremme-3,163, 25. Sadler-3,140.
Hornaday Wins Truck Title
Johnny Benson won the season-ending Ford 200 Craftsman Truck Series race with a last-lap pass on a green-white-checkered-flag restart that sent the race four laps beyond its posted distance.
Ron Hornaday Jr. won his third series championship when the anticipated shootout between Hornaday and points leader Mike Skinner failed to materialize.
Skinner entered the race with a 29-point lead but exited the season finale 54 points behind Hornaday.
Final top 10 Craftsman points leaders: 1. Hornaday-3,982, 2. Skinner-3,928, 3. Benson-3,557, 4. T. Bodine-3,525, 5. Crawford-3,523, 6. Kvapil-3,511, 7. Musgrave-3,183, 8. Crafton-3,060, 9. Sprague-3,001, 10. Starr-2,921.
Busch Series Wraps Up
Carl Edwards clinched the NASCAR Busch Series title two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, but Jeff Burton won the NASCAR Busch Series owners’ championship for Richard Childress Racing with his fifth win of the year in the final event in the series.
Next year it will be known as the Nationwide Series.
Final top 10 Busch Series leaders: 1. Edwards-4,805, 2. Reutimann-4,187, 3. Leffler-3,996, 4. Kevin Harvick-3,993, 5. Ragan-3,739, 6. Hamilton Jr.-3,667, 7. Leicht-3,603, 8. Ambrose-3,477, 9. Biffle-3,466, 10. Matt Kenseth-3,451.
Racing Trivia Question: Which Cup driver won the most races in 2007?
Last Week’s Question: Which Cup team will Jeremy Mayfield drive for in 2008?
Answer: He will drive the No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet.
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