2007 Pennsylvania 500

The 2007 Pennsylvania 500, the twenty-first race of the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season was raced on Sunday, August 5, 2007 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Pre-Race

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole position after being allowed to requalify when a rainstorm interrupted his attempt which resulted in a 45-minute rain delay. NASCAR allowed Earnhardt to put on new tires and cool down his car because of the delay, when temperatures cooled down.

The other big story was the disqualification of Robby Gordon from his self-owned #7 car after several incidents the previous day at the Busch Series' NAPA Auto Parts 200 in Montreal. He ignored orders from NASCAR officials to take a lower position in the field than where he was, and then retaliated for an earlier incident with Marcos Ambrose during the race by spinning out Ambrose. P.J. Jones replaced Gordon in the race, finishing 37th. [http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2962002]

Kevin Lepage (#37), Mike Bliss (#49), Kenny Wallace (#78) and A.J. Allmendinger (#84) all failed to make the race.

Race

Outside polesitter Kurt Busch would be the class of the field, dominating for 175 of 200 laps and taking his first victory since the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2006. While Busch dominated, the main story of the day was that of the polesitter. Dale Jr.'s team had brought an overly aggressive shock package to Pocono, and it was not working for them as the car was tight despite numerous adjustments. Their struggles hit a low point when Earnhardt Jr. spun the car in turn two, known as the "Tunnel Turn". The team changed the shock and Dale Jr. rallied back to second place. Despite this comeback, Busch had overtaken Earnhardt, Jr. for the critical 12th position in points.

Jeff Gordon extended his points lead over Denny Hamlin to 366 points.

Top ten results:

Post-Race

On the following Tuesday, August 7, Gordon was fined $35,000 and placed on probation through December 31 for his actions in Montreal. [http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2965150] Ironically, race winner Busch is also on probation through the end of the calendar year as a result of an earlier incident.

External links

* [http://www.jayski.com/stats/2007/results/21poc2007results.htm Complete race results]
* [http://www.jayski.com/stats/2007/standings/21poc2007points.htm Points standings]