2007 LifeLock 400

The 2007 LifeLock 400 is the 29th race in the 2007 NASCAR season and the third race of the ten in the 2007 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup Championship Series. The event, held at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, was run on September 30, 2007.

The new title sponsor of the race was LifeLock, a company that sells products that are designed to protect consumers from identity theft. It replaces ConAgra Foods, which had sponsored the race since 2003 under the Banquet brand name.

Qualifying

With a lap of 30.846 seconds at a speed of 175.063 mph, Chase driver Jimmie Johnson scored his second consecutive pole. "Rocketman" Ryan Newman was to have been alongside him, missing tbe pole position by .30 thousandths of a second, but his lap was disallowed after failing post-qualifying inspection. Out of his typical fashion of starting in the back, Matt Kenseth qualified a very uncharachteristic third. Of note, Scott Riggs posted his best starting spot this year in fourth, and all three Michael Waltrip Racing cars made the race. Points leader Jeff Gordon started fifth, Emporia native Clint Bowyer started 11th, and defending winner Tony Stewart started 20th.

Failed to Qualify: A. J. Allmendinger (#84); Brian Vickers (#83); Jon Wood (#47); Ward Burton (#4).

Happy Hour

Continuing with the craziness from Dover, Chase drivers again had trouble. During final practice, polesitter Jimmie Johnson spun and damaged his left front fender. His team will go to a backup car, but they will still be credited for the pole. Tony Stewart, who is already on probation for using an expletive at Indy, had another slip at Kansas. While talking to fellow driver Robby Gordon, an ESPN 2 camera crew showed up. Stewart said "What? Get the expletive away from me." [ [http://racingone.com/article.aspx?artnum=38340 RacingOne.com article on Stewart's slip] ] Stewart may face a points penalty similar to the one Carl Edwards had after winning Dover.

Race

The race would be dominated by Kurt Busch who led 77 laps. However, Chase drivers immediately began to have trouble. Kyle Busch was tapped from behind by Dale Earnhardt Jr., the man who will replace Busch at Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. Jeff Burton, who was leading the points at this race last year, attempted to repair fender damage under red flag conditions, sending him to the tail end of the longest line. Burton's day would only get worse as he had starter trouble. Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth would be collected in a 7 car pileup. The red flag would wave for a second time due to rain.

The controversy begins after the rain stops and NASCAR attempts to dry the track. At 5 PM CT, ESPN switches the broadcast over to local affiliates, and moves the race to ESPN2, which ended a practice in NASCAR in the past five years where race overrun stays on the broadcast network. When the race restarts at 6 PM, with one hour to go before darkness, NASCAR attempts to shorten the race to 225 laps (the track does not have lights). After numerous cautions following the resumption of racing, NASCAR officials shorten the race again, this time to 210 laps. Another Chase contender, Tony Stewart, had made a gamble before the previous red flag to coast to the end. However, that would not work as Stewart would come back in for fuel, and was later involved in the aforementioned "Big One". His day would only get worse from there, as he took fender damage on his left front tire. Crew chief Greg Zipadelli made the call to stay out on the racetrack, not wanting to risk track position. The call would not work as Tony's tire went flat and was accidentally punted by Kurt Busch, causing him to spin and collect chase contender Carl Edwards. While the Chasers struggled, 2005 runner-up Greg Biffle was also conserving fuel. The final caution would come out for the blown tire of Juan Pablo Montoya.

Darkness meant the race would end under caution (no green-white-checker finish). Controversy reigned in who had won the race. As the cars came around to the checkered flag, Biffle ran out of fuel. Coasting along the flat part of the track, Biffle slowed down, causing the car of Clint Bowyer to slow down. However, Jimmie Johnson did not, passing both Bowyer and Biffle under caution before handing second back to Bowyer. NASCAR declared Biffle the winner, breaking his 28 race losing streak.

NASCAR rules state on the final lap of a race, the car must finish on its own power, and following incidents in recent years (including one where Johnson was docked positions during a 2004 race for being slower than pace car speedway during a pit road fake), stated a rule that the car must be at pace car speed (50 MPH) or it loses track position. Biffle was considerably slower than pace car speed, and the finish was protested over the procedure. All protests were denied.

Results

Top Ten Results: "(NOTE: Chase drivers are in bold italics.)"

References