The 2007 Dodge Dealers 400 was the twenty-eighth stock car race of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the second in the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was held on September 23, 2007 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware before a crowd of 137,000. Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards won the 400-lap race starting from fifteenth position. His teammate Greg Biffle finished second and Dale Earnhardt Jr. took third.
Although Jimmie Johnson won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying, he was passed by Denny Hamlin on the second lap. Hamlin led for the next 40 laps until Matt Kenseth passed him. Hamlin retook it on the 57th lap and Kurt Busch led from laps 85 to 98 after a pit stop cycle. Kenseth returned to the lead on lap 99, and kept the position for a race-high 169 laps. On lap 207, Edwards took the lead for the first time, and maintained it until Mark Martin overtook him 21 laps later. Edwards did not reclaim the first place until he moved past his teammate Kenseth in the final-third of the race and kept it until Kenseth led six laps before his engine failed. This enabled Edwards to return to the lead, which he held through two red flag periods to clear debris and fluids after two separate accidents to win the race. There were thirteen cautions and fourteen lead changes by nine drivers during the course of the race.
Edwards' victory was his third of the season, the seventh of his career, and the 100th for Roush Fenway Racing. However, Edwards was issued a 25 points penalty after the right-rear of his vehicle was found to be too low in post-race inspection, and it was upheld in a subsequent appeal to the National Stock Car Racing Commission. After the race Jeff Gordon became the new leader of the Drivers' Championship with Tony Stewart advancing to second and Johnson dropping to third. In the Manufacturers' Championship Chevrolet maintained a 57-point lead over Ford. Dodge and Toyota retained third and fourth with eight races left in the season.
Background
The Dodge Dealers 400 was the 28th of 36 scheduled stock car races of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the second in the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was held on September 23, 2007 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware, a short tracks that holds NASCAR races. NASCAR makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track oval. Its turns are banked at twenty-four degrees; both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the backstretch are banked at nine degrees.
Before the race, Jimmie Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon were tied for the lead in the Drivers' Championship on 5,210 points, with Tony Stewart in third. Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch were fourth and fifth, and Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch rounded out the top twelve drivers competing for the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup. Chevrolet led the Manufacturers' Championship with 215 points; Ford was second with 153 points. Dodge was third with 139 points, and Toyota a further 54 behind in fourth. Burton was the race's defending champion.
Former V8 Supercars champion and Busch Series driver Marcos Ambrose was scheduled to drive for Robby Gordon Motorsports after team owner Robby Gordon offered him the seat to make up for an incident between the two in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 Busch Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. However, Ambrose withdrew from the race as his wife Sonja was due to give birth to their second child intermittently. Three part-time season drivers attempted to qualify for the Dover International Speedway round: Sam Hornish Jr. for Penske Racing South, Scott Wimmer in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing vehicle, and Kenny Wallace who filled in for the injured Ricky Rudd in the No. 88 Robert Yates Racing car.
Practice and qualification
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race: one on Friday and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, the second 50 minutes and the third 60 minutes. In the first practice session, Johnson was fastest with a lap of 23.423 seconds. Hamlin was 0.071 seconds slower in second, and Tony Raines was third. Martin Truex Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Scott Riggs and Gordon occupied positions four to ten. On his first lap on the track, A. J. Allmendinger's engine failed, and his team changed engines.