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Season In Review: In '07, It Was All Hendrick, All The Time

NASCAR YEAR IN REVIEW

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 21, 2007

In one way or another, almost everything big that happened in NASCAR this year involved Hendrick Motorsports.

The powerhouse organization won 18 of the 36 races and a seventh Nextel Cup championship, as Jimmie Johnson took his second straight.

Jeff Gordon returned to prominence in a year in which he also became a first-time father, and he passed the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the all-time wins list.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. split with the team his father founded, none other than Hendrick Motorsports swooped in and signed him for 2008.

The 2007 season also saw the passing of longtime former NASCAR boss Bill France Jr. and Toyota prop itself up for the future by aligning with three-time championship team Joe Gibbs Racing.

TRIBUNE AWARDS

DRIVER OF THE YEAR: Jimmie Johnson (10 wins, second championship)

TEAM OF THE YEAR: Hendrick Motorsports (won half of the races).

CREW CHIEF OF THE YEAR: Chad Knaus (Johnson's championship chief).

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Juan Pablo Montoya (one win, three top-fives).

TOP MANUFACTURER: Chevy (won 26 of the 36 races).

BIGGEST SURPRISE

* Clint Bowyer, who qualified for the Chase in his second season in Nextel Cup, won the Chase opener at New Hampshire and finished third in the final standings.

DISAPPOINTMENTS

* Dale Earnhardt Jr. failed to make the Chase for the second time in three years, went winless for the first time in his Nextel Cup career and had nine DNF's and 11 finishes of 30th or worse.

* Ryan Newman, an elite driver just a couple of years ago, missed the Chase for the second consecutive year and extended his winless streak to 81 races.

* Two years after being the championship runner-up, Greg Biffle finished outside the top 10 for the second consecutive year. He did get a win at Kansas, literally coasting to victory on fumes.

* Dale Jarrett, though driving for first-year Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota, had a tough final full season in Nextel Cup. Even with six former championship provisionals, he failed to qualify for 12 races and didn't have a top-15 finish.

Dodge won only three races: one by Montoya and two by Kurt Busch.

NASCAR'S BIGGEST STORIES of 2007

RHYMES WITH GREAT — 48

Parity, unprecedented depth of good teams and an expanded Chase field couldn't slow Hendrick Motorsports and Jimmie Johnson.

Hendrick Motorsports won 18 of the 36 races, placed three of its four drivers in the Chase, and won a second consecutive championship with Johnson and the No.48 team.

After winning six times during the 26-race regular season, but struggling with consistency, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus came on with a vengeance in the Chase. They won four of the final five races of the season to beat teammate Jeff Gordon by 77 points.

Johnson became the first driver to repeat as champion since Gordon in 1997-98 and the first driver with double-digit wins (10) since Gordon had 13 in 1998.

POSITIONING FOR A CHARGE

Global automobile giant Toyota made a splash in its first season competing in NASCAR's top two divisions, but not until late in the year and not on the track.

The first foreign manufacturer to compete full time in NASCAR took a huge step in September when it landed powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing to race its cars starting next year. The alliance gives Toyota three of the top drivers in the sport in Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch (who will move over from Hendrick Motorsports) and realistic Daytona 500 and championship aspirations for 2008.

On the track, Toyota struggled mightily in Nextel Cup — largely because most of its teams were start-up operations and most of its drivers did not have automatic qualifying berths.

SIMPLE OWNERSHIP NO MORE

As Hendrick Motorsports dominated, other teams strengthened for the future with partnerships and mergers.

Boston Red Sox owner John Henry purchased half of Roush Racing in a $50 million deal, and the premier Ford team was renamed Roush-Fenway Racing. Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett purchased majority interest in what's now known as Gillett-Evernham Motorsports.

Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Ginn Racing merged, and the combined team kept the DEI name. Just before the merger/acquisition was announced, DEI and Richard Childress Racing combined their engine shops.

Arizona Diamondbacks executives Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel purchased majority of interest in Hall of Fame Racing from Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman and Bill Saunders. Robert Yates sold his interest in Robert Yates Racing to his son, Doug, and the team formed an even tighter alliance with Roush-Fenway Racing.

Michael Waltrip Racing took on an equal-ownership partner in Robert Kauffmann, managing partner of the Fortress Investment Group.

HE BUILT A NATIONAL SPORT

Bill France Jr., who guided NASCAR from its Southern roots to mainstream national acceptance, passed away in June after years of declining heath. France, who was 74, led NASCAR from 1972 to 2003 and helped turn it into a $3 billion industry.

About 2,000 people attended France's funeral including many of the biggest names in auto racing.

OPEN-WHEEL INVASION

Former Indy 500 winner and Formula One star Juan Pablo Montoya didn't exactly tear up the Nextel Cup series in his rookie season, but with one victory and three top-five finishes and six top-10s, he did well enough to make others think they could make the transition.

By the end of the season, three-time Indy Racing League champion Sam Hornish Jr., 2007 IRL champ and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti, former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve and former CART/Champ Car standout Patrick Carpentier were planning to race full time in Sprint Cup next year.

Counting Montoya and former Champ Car standout A.J. Allmendinger, six former open-wheel standouts are set to race in the Sprint Cup series in 2008.

LOCAL BOYS

This was another season in which drivers with area ties figured prominently on the national motorsports scene.

Zephyrhills' David Reutimann competed full time as a rookie in Nextel Cup and full time in the Busch Series with first-year Michael Waltrip Racing. He had his best results in the Busch Series, finishing second to Carl Edwards for the championship and winning a late-season race at Memphis. Driving for a young team in Nextel Cup, and not having an automatic qualifying berth, he finished 39th in the points with a best finish of 13th.

Tampa native Aric Almirola left Joe Gibbs Racing to take a part-time ride in Nextel Cup with Ginn Racing, which was later absorbed by Dale Earnhardt Inc. Almirola was named to share DEI's famed No.8 car with Mark Martin in 2008. The Hillsborough High graduate also was credited with a Busch Series win at Milwaukee after winning the pole and leading 42 laps before giving way to Denny Hamlin.

Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, a St. Petersburg resident, dominated the Champ Car circuit and won an unprecedented fourth consecutive championship. Headed to Formula One next year with the lower-rung Toro Rosso team, Bourdais finished his Champ Car career with 31 victories in five seasons.

Englishman Dan Wheldon, a former Indy 500 winner and also a St. Petersburg resident, finished a disappointing fourth in the Indy Racing League standings. He won two races.

Reutimann's cousin, Wayne Jr., finished second to Bud Kaeding for the USAC Silver Crown Series championship.

ALSO NOTABLE

The long-awaited ''Car of Tomorrow'' made its debut and was roundly criticized by drivers. NASCAR scraped its plan to continue a phase-in of the car in 2008, saying instead the safer and boxier next-generation car will be used in all races.

Carl Edwards dominated the Busch Series and won his first NASCAR championship with Roush-Fenway Racing, beating Zephyrhills' David Reutimann by 618 points. Richard Childress Racing won the Busch car owners championship, with Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer sharing a car.

Anheuser Busch bowed out as sponsor of the Busch Series after 25 years, and Nationwide Insurance signed on as the title sponsor starting next year. And Sprint Nextel announced that the Nextel Cup will become the Sprint Cup in 2008, giving NASCAR's top series a second name change since 2004.

Kevin Harvick won arguably the wildest Daytona 500, beating sentimental favorite Mark Martin by a nose in a green-white-checkered finish as a melee broke out behind them. Harvick's margin of victory was .02 seconds, the closest in the 500 since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993.

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