The 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was the sixteenth stock car race of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the first of the season's two road course events. It was held on June 24, 2007, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California before a crowd of 102,000. The 110-lap race was won by Juan Pablo Montoya of the Chip Ganassi Racing team who started from thirty-second position. Kevin Harvick finished second and his Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton came in third.
Although Jamie McMurray won the pole position, he was passed by Robby Gordon on the first lap. Gordon held the position until the first round of green-flag pit stops, and Carl Edwards took over the first position. He held it for twelve laps until Gordon got ahead of Edwards. At the race's final restart on lap 70, Tony Stewart took over the lead when he passed Gordon, but ceded it to McMurray after Stewart made a pit stop. McMurray slowed on lap 97 as he attempted to conserve fuel which allowed Montoya to close the gap. Montoya got ahead of McMurray for the lead after a seven-lap battle and held it to win the race. There were seven cautions and eleven lead changes by eight drivers.
It was Montoya's first win in the Nextel Cup Series, and became the first foreign driver since Earl Ross in 1974 to win in the series. After the race Jeff Gordon's lead in the Drivers' Championship was reduced because he, along with his teammate Jimmie Johnson, were penalized for a car infringement. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, 49 points ahead of their nearest rival Ford with twenty races remaining in the season. The race attracted 6.5 million television viewers.
Background
The 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was the sixteenth of thirty-six scheduled stock car races of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. It took place on June 24, 2007, in Sonoma, California, at Infineon Raceway, one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other is Watkins Glen International. The standard road course at Infineon Raceway is a twelve-turn course that is long; the track was modified in 1998, adding the Chute, which bypassed turns five and six, shortening the course to . The Chute was only used for NASCAR events such as this race, and was criticized by many drivers, who preferred the full layout. In 2001, it was replaced with a 70-degree turn, 4A, bringing the track to its current dimensions of .
Before the race, Jeff Gordon led the Drivers' Championship with 2,392 points, with Denny Hamlin in second and Jimmie Johnson third. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton were fourth and fifth, and Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top twelve. Chevrolet led the Manufacturers' Championship with 129 points, 47 ahead of their nearest rival Ford in second. Dodge was third on 73 points, and Toyota was fourth on 47. Jeff Gordon was the race's defending champion.
Several teams chose to temporarily replace their regular drivers with road course ringers. Michael Waltrip Racing replaced Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann with two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Terry Labonte and the 1993 24 Hours of Daytona winner P. J. Jones. BAM Racing chose to replace Mike Bliss (who was competing at The Milwaukee Mile) with the 2005 Trans-Am Series champion Klaus Graf, while Hall of Fame Racing replaced Tony Raines with endurance driver Ron Fellows. Former SCCA Trans-Am champion Brian Simo was selected by Front Row Motorsports to drive the No. 37 Dodge, while American Le Mans Series and Busch Series East race winner Butch Leitzinger was selected to replace Bill Davis Racing driver Jeremy Mayfield. Brandon Ash attempted to qualify in his self-owned No. 02 car, and endurance racing driver Marc Goossens was entered in the No. 91 Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports Toyota. Scott Pruett announced he would not participate for the Chip Ganassi Racing team due to a scheduling conflict; Former V8 Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose, who was scheduled to drive the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing car withdrew.
Rookie of the Year competitor Juan Pablo Montoya made his NASCAR début on a road course after leaving Formula One in 2006, and was considered by several drivers to be a contender to win the race despite no previous experience of driving at Infineon Raceway. Montoya said he hoped to have a chance of winning, and expected his main rival to be Jeff Gordon. After he finished with a top-ten at the previous round (the Citizen Bank 400) Jamie McMurray hoped to continue his momentum into Sonona, and move up in the Drivers' Championship standings.
Practice and qualifying
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. Gordon and Johnson were prohibited from competing in the first practice session and Friday's qualifier because their right-front fenders were deemed too wide by race officials during a pre-event inspection, and both drivers were required to start at the rear of the field for the race. Bobby Labonte was fastest in the first practice session with a time of 77.539 seconds; Robby Gordon was second and Kurt Busch third. Stewart took fourth position, and McMurray placed fifth. Fellows, Edwards, Ryan Newman, Harvick and Kasey Kahne rounded out the session's top-ten fastest drivers. Said, Dave Blaney and Stewart went off the track but continued.
Fifty-two drivers were entered in the qualifier on Friday evening; due to NASCAR's qualifying procedure forty-three were allowed to race. Each driver ran two laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times. McMurray clinched the third pole position of his career, and his first since the 2005 Pennsylvania 500, with a time of 77.521 seconds. He had an advantage because he recorded his lap when weather conditions were cooler. McMurray was joined on the grid's front row by Robby Gordon and had the pole position until McMurray's lap. Earnhardt qualified third, Said fourth and Stewart started fifth. Burton, Bill Elliott, Kahne, Newman and Bowyer rounded out the top ten qualifiers. The nine drivers who failed to qualify were Ward Burton, Scott Riggs, Ash, Paul Menard, Brian Vickers, A. J. Allmendinger, Simo, Kenny Wallace and Graf. After the qualifier McMurray said that he was slightly nervous and felt another driver could record a faster lap time, "I definitely felt with Juan and Ryan going out later, I would definitely get beat. I kept telling everybody that. My heart was definitely beating faster this morning when I got up, looking forward to this."
On Saturday afternoon in cool weather conditions Montoya was fastest in the second practice session with a lap of 77.591 seconds, ahead of Harvick and Jeff Gordon. Stewart was fourth-fastest; Fellows was fifth and Kyle Busch sixth. Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Bobby Labonte and Edwards followed in the top ten. David Ragan stalled after he spun. Afterward, Edwards and Ragan left the track and flew to Milwaukee Mile to participate in the AT&T 250 Busch Series race; both drivers returned to Sonoma after the race's completion. Later that day, Hamlin paced the final practice session with a time of 78.219; Stewart was second and Robby Gordon third. Harvick was fourth-fastest, ahead of Sadler and Newman. Fellows was seventh-fastest, McMurray eighth, Johnson ninth and Jeff Gordon tenth. Hamlin was afflicted with an electrical issue which was corrected after his team installed a new distributor. J. J. Yeley damaged his car's sheet metal structure in an accident at turn ten, while Jeff Gordon spun and hit the turn eleven tire barrier and sustained minor damage. Dale Jarrett and Kyle Busch both went off track but did not damage their cars.
Qualifying results Grid Driver Team Manufacturer 126Jamie McMurrayRoush Fenway RacingFord77.52192.414 27Robby GordonRobby Gordon MotorsportsFord77.53392.399 38Dale Earnhardt Jr.Dale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet77.54692.384 460Boris SaidNo Fear RacingFord77.60692.312 520Tony StewartJoe Gibbs RacingChevrolet77.64892.262 631Jeff BurtonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet77.65292.258 721Bill ElliottWood Brothers RacingFord77.69892.203 89Kasey KahneEvernham MotorsportsDodge77.76392.126 912Ryan NewmanPenske Racing SouthDodge77.82692.051 1007Clint BowyerRichard Childress RacingChevrolet77.94891.907 1196Ron FellowsHall of Fame RacingChevrolet77.96591.887 1219Elliott SadlerEvernham MotorsportsDodge78.01691.827 1343Bobby LabontePetty EnterprisesDodge78.07991.753 142Kurt BuschPenske Racing SouthDodge78.08791.744 1599Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway RacingFord78.12691.698 1644Dale JarrettMichael Waltrip RacingToyota78.17291.644 1716Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord78.32891.462 181Martin Truex Jr.Dale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet78.39191.388 1922Dave BlaneyBill Davis RacingToyota78.40291.375 2014Sterling MarlinGinn RacingChevrolet78.41891.357 2191Marc Goossens Riley-D'Hondt MotorsportsToyota78.45591.313 2229Kevin HarvickRichard Childress RacingChevrolet78.45991.309 2345Kyle PettyPetty EnterprisesDodge78.49791.265 245Kyle BuschHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet78.53391.223 2555Terry LabonteMichael Waltrip RacingToyota78.53491.222 2601Regan SmithGinn RacingChevrolet78.59791.148 2717Matt KensethRoush Fenway RacingFord78.64891.089 2888Ricky RuddRobert Yates RacingFord78.65791.079 2941Reed SorensonChip Ganassi RacingDodge78.66991.065 3023Butch LeitzingerBill Davis RacingToyota78.68191.051 3166Jeff GreenHaas CNC RacingChevrolet78.72990.996 3242Juan Pablo MontoyaChip Ganassi RacingDodge78.74690.976 3318J. J. YeleyJoe Gibbs RacingChevrolet78.81290.900 3470Johnny SauterHaas CNC RacingChevrolet78.86290.842 3538David GillilandRobert Yates RacingFord78.93690.758 3611Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingChevrolet79.07090.592 376David RaganRoush Fenway RacingFord79.71389.872 3825Casey MearsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet79.93889.619 3913Joe NemechekGinn RacingChevrolet82.66786.661 4040David StremmeChip Ganassi RacingDodge85.13784.147 4124Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet–– 4248 Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet–– 4300P. J. JonesMichael Waltrip RacingToyota78.81390.899 444Ward BurtonMorgan-McClure MotorsportsChevrolet78.88790.813 4510Scott RiggsEvernham MotorsportsDodge78.91790.779 4602Brandon AshAsh MotorsportsDodge79.18090.477 4715 Paul MenardDale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet79.21390.440 4883Brian VickersRed Bull Racing TeamToyota79.34790.287 4984A. J. AllmendingerRed Bull Racing TeamToyota79.47090.147 5037Brian SimoFront Row MotorsportsDodge79.55890.048 5178Kenny WallaceFurniture Row RacingChevrolet79.70489.883 5249Klaus GrafBAM RacingDodge80.10089.438
Race 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.