2007 Lenox Industrial Tools 300

The 2007 Lenox Industrial Tools 300 was the 17th race of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, held on July 1, 2007, at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.

2007 Lenox Industrial Tools 300
Race details
Race 17 of 36 in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season
Layout of New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Date July 1, 2007 (2007-July-01)
Official name Lenox Industrial Tools 300
Location New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire
Course Permanent racing facility
1.058 mi (1.702 km)
Distance 300 laps, 317.4 mi (510.805 km)
Weather Mild with temperatures approaching 75.9 °F (24.4 °C); wind speeds up to 13 miles per hour (21 km/h)[1]
Average speed 108.215 miles per hour (174.155 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Bill Davis Racing
Time 29.426
Most laps led
Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
Laps 64
Winner
No. 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network TNT
Announcers Bill Weber, Kyle Petty and
Wally Dallenbach Jr.

Summary

The event served as the eighth race for the new Car of Tomorrow and its first race at NHIS.

Qualifying

Dave Blaney won the pole with a speed of 129.437 mph giving him his second career pole (last pole at North Carolina Speedway in February 2003) [2] and giving Toyota their first ever NEXTEL Cup pole position.[3]

Shortly after the conclusion of qualifying the #83 Red Bull Toyota of Brian Vickers was found to be too low in post-qualifying inspection. Due to this his time was disallowed and he was dropped from the field. Chad Chaffin, driver of the #49 car, took his place in the starting lineup.[4]

Others who failed to qualify: Michael Waltrip (#55), A. J. Allmendinger (#84), Kenny Wallace (#78), Scott Riggs (#10), Dale Jarrett (#44)

Happy Hour

Jimmie Johnson led Happy Hour with a speed of 127.062 mph, while Martin Truex Jr. ran the most laps, 58. Top 5 times were as follows:

Rank Driver Starting pos. Speed
1 Jimmie Johnson 10th 127.062 mph
2 Juan Pablo Montoya 5th 127.062 mph
3 Jeff Gordon 8th 126.783 mph
4 Kevin Harvick 7th 126.761 mph
5 Clint Bowyer 20th 126.694 mph

[5] [6]

Race

Pole sitter Dave Blaney led the first 30 laps, the most laps he had led in a race since Atlanta in March 2001. However, he lost the lead to former New Hampshire winner Jeff Gordon. After a cycle of green-flag pit stops, Dale Earnhardt Jr. assumed the top spot and led the most laps at 64. Many pit problems arose for some teams, such as speeding penalties, or running over a hose in Ryan Newman's case, or having the jack drop off the racecar, as was witnessed by the 99 crew of Carl Edwards. However, the most significant pitstop of the day was the last one. Denny Hamlin's crew chief Mike Ford took a gamble, putting on two tires, thus giving his driver the lead. Hamlin managed to hold off a furious charge from Jeff Gordon to end his 32-race winless streak and put his team back in victory lane.

Results

PlaceDriverMake
111Denny HamlinChevrolet190/5 300Running
224Jeff GordonChevrolet175/5 300Running
31Martin Truex Jr.Chevrolet170/5 300Running
48Dale Earnhardt Jr.Chevrolet170/10 300Running
548Jimmie JohnsonChevrolet160/5 300Running
666Jeff GreenChevrolet150/0 300Running
731Jeff BurtonChevrolet146/0 300Running
829Kevin HarvickChevrolet142/0 300Running
917Matt KensethFord143/5 300Running
1012Ryan NewmanDodge139/5 300Running
115Kyle BuschChevrolet135/5 300Running
1220Tony StewartChevrolet127/0 300Running
1399Carl EdwardsFord Lumber129/5 300Running
1470Johnny SauterChevrolet121/0 300Running
156David Ragan *Ford118/0 300Running
1626Jamie McMurrayFord115/0 300Running
177Robby GordonFord112/0 300Running
1843Bobby LabonteDodge109/0 300Running
1942Juan Montoya *Dodge106/0 300Running
2096Tony RainesChevrolet103/0 300Running
212Kurt BuschDodge105/5 300Running
2218J.J. YeleyChevrolet97/0 300Running
2325Casey MearsChevrolet94/0 300Running
2414Sterling MarlinChevrolet91/0 300Running
259Kasey KahneDodge88/0 300Running
2641Reed SorensonDodge85/0 300Running
2740David StremmeDodge82/0 300Running
2838David GillilandFord79/0 299Running
2922Dave BlaneyToyota81/5 299Running
3088Ricky RuddFord73/0 299Running
3116Greg BiffleFord70/0 298Running
3201Regan SmithChevrolet67/0 298Running
3319Elliott SadlerDodge64/0 297Running
3421Bill ElliottFord61/0 297Running
3537Kevin LepageDodge58/0 294Running
3649Chad ChaffinDodge55/0 293Running
3707Clint BowyerChevrolet52/0 293Running
3800David Reutimann *Toyota49/0 293Running
3915Paul Menard *Chevrolet46/0 286Running
4036Jeremy MayfieldToyota43/0 259Running
4113Joe NemechekChevrolet40/0 197Out of Race
4245John AndrettiDodge37/0 109Out of Race
434Ward BurtonChevrolet34/0 4Out of Race

"*" Denotes rookie

Race notes

Post-race penalties

The #70 car of Johnny Sauter and the #5 car of Kyle Busch were found too low during post-race inspection. As a result, both drivers lost 25 points in the standings, their respective owners (Haas CNC Racing and Hendrick Motorsports) lost 25 points as well, and their respective crew chiefs (Robert "Bootie" Barker and Alan Gustafson) were placed on probation until September 19.

References

Previous race:
2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350
Nextel Cup Series
2007 season
Next race:
2007 Pepsi 400
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