JGR Race Report - Charlotte
Date: Oct. 13, 2007
Event: Bank of America 500 (Round 31 of 36)
Series: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Winner: Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
JGR Finish: Tony Stewart (Started 29th, Finished 7th / Running, completed 337 of 337 laps in a green/white/checkered finish)
J.J. Yeley (Started 39th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 337 of 337 laps in a green/white/checkered finish)
Denny Hamlin (Started 11th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 337 of 337 laps in a green/white/checkered finish)
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet, led the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) contingent at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway by finishing seventh in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race. It was Stewart’s 11th top-10 finish in 18 career races at Charlotte.
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Kinko’s Chevrolet for JGR, finished 20th after dealing with a balky transmission late in the race. It marked only the second time in five career races at Charlotte where Hamlin has finished outside the top-10.
Stewart and Hamlin are JGR’s representatives in this year’s 12-driver Chase for the Nextel Cup. Stewart’s seventh-place finish helped him maintain his fourth-place standing in points. The two-time Nextel Cup champion is now 198 points behind series leader Jeff Gordon. Hamlin, meanwhile, maintained his ninth-place standing in points and currently sits 349 markers arrears Gordon.
J.J. Yeley, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for JGR, rallied from his 39th-place starting spot to pick up 26 positions and finish 13th in the Bank of America 500. Yeley’s eighth top-15 finish of the season bumped him up one spot to 18th in points.
Gordon won the Bank of America 500 to score his 81st career Nextel Cup victory, his sixth this season and his fifth at Charlotte. Clint Bowyer, future JGR driver Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five. Dave Blaney, Stewart, Kasey Kahne, David Stremme and Michael Waltrip comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were 15 caution periods for 62 laps, with seven drivers failing to finish the 337-lap race, which was extended three laps past its scheduled 334-lap distance due to a green/white/checkered finish.
The next event on the Nextel Cup schedule – the sixth race of the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup – is the Oct. 21 Subway 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race begins at 1:30 p.m. EDT with live, high-definition coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 1 p.m.
