Originally published on Feb. 16, 2025
By Zane Miller
First round
(8) #31 Jeff Burton v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon
(7) #5 Kyle Busch v. (2) #20 Tony Stewart
(6) #99 Carl Edwards v. (3) #11 Denny Hamlin
(5) #17 Matt Kenseth v. (4) #48 Jimmie Johnson
At Dover to start the ’07 playoffs, Matt Kenseth
proved himself to be the dominant driver early on. However, after leading for
nearly 200 laps, his engine gave up the ghost an excruciating 25 laps from the
finish. This paved the way for Jimmie Johnson to get the early advantage in the
series with a 14th-place finish after starting on the pole. Also
having a rough start was sophomore racer Denny Hamlin, who lost many laps after
getting involved in a crash just past halfway for a 38th-place
finish. On the opposite end of the finishing order, Carl Edwards led 95 laps
thanks to Kenseth’s misfortune and took his third race win of the season.
Future teammates Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart both finished inside the top-10,
but Busch would handily take the early advantage over Stewart with a
fifth-place run, while Stewart ended the race a lap down in ninth. As for the
battle between Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon, both would finish the race a lap
down, but Burton would come out on top in seventh while Gordon finished just
outside the top-10 in 11th.
Moving on to Kansas Speedway, Kenseth had another
strong run going, leading 49 laps early on. Just like the previous week though,
this came to an abrupt end in the waning laps of the race. In this case, he was
involved in a multi-car wreck 53 laps before the race was ended early due to
darkness. Johnson took the checkers with a third-place run to knock out Kenseth,
though this would be the only first round series to be completed in a sweep. Burton
failed to put away Gordon as he finished 36th after dealing with
multiple mechanical issues, while Gordon nabbed the fifth spot. The other four
drivers all had poor showings during the topsy-turvy event, as Hamlin ended up
a lap down in 29th thanks to a late race crash, but this was still
good enough to continue the series as Edwards was out after a separate crash
shortly before. Both Stewart and Busch fared even worse, starting with Busch as
he was the first driver to crash on lap 29. Almost 150 laps later, though,
Stewart wrecked out of the race himself. Busch was able to get back on track
after his incident to complete more laps, but his miracle shot at overtaking
Stewart was done in by the race ending early. Busch was only 10 laps away from passing
Stewart in the finishing order.
A nearly full slate of playoff competitors took to the
track at Talladega, but the battle of Jeffs would be over before halfway.
Burton’s car ignited after an engine failure, putting him in last place and
ending his shot at back-to-back titles. Now with no pressure, Gordon went on to
win the race after completing a last-lap pass of teammate Johnson for his only
lap led of the event. The Stewart-Busch series was also decided before the
checkered flag fell, as Busch was swept up in the Big One on lap 144. Stewart finished
the race without incident in eighth. Meanwhile, both Hamlin and Edwards were in
contention at the final lap, but Hamlin was able to complete the comeback with
a fourth-place finish as Edwards could only make it up to 14th after
waiting in the back of the pack for much of the race in an effort to avoid the
major accidents.
Semifinal
(4) #48 Jimmie Johnson v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon
(3) #11 Denny Hamlin v. (2) #20 Tony Stewart
For the second straight year, the semifinals would pit
two sets of teammates against each other. At Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Gordon
would get the early edge despite the track being named after Johnson’s sponsor,
passing Ryan Newman for the eventual race win with six laps to do while Johnson
fell to 14th despite leading the most laps in the race. Stewart
continued his run of consistency with a seventh-place finish, while Hamlin
struggled in 20th as the last car on the lead lap.
Martinsville witnessed domination from the two
Hendrick Motorsports teammates, with Gordon leading 165 laps and Johnson pacing
the field for 147 laps. However, Johnson made the race-winning pass of Gordon with
45 laps to go and didn’t look back, while Gordon saw a guaranteed return to the
finals slip away in third. Stewart battled from a 34th-place
starting spot to finish 13th, but it wouldn’t be enough to keep out
Hamlin as he took the sixth spot.
Both championship finals spots were up for grabs at
Atlanta Motor Speedway, but Stewart would be facing an uphill challenge starting
with 150 laps to go. With Hamlin still within the top-five, Stewart lost
multiple laps due to a mechanical issue. A glimmer of hope manifested itself
for Stewart with just six laps to go, as Hamlin missed a shift from the lead on
a restart which caused him to get drilled from behind. However, Hamlin only
ended up losing one lap as a result of the incident, which was more than enough
to advance to the finals with a 24th-place run as Stewart finished
six laps down in 30th. As for Gordon, who had won at Atlanta four
times to that point in his career, he put together yet another solid run for a
seventh-place finish. However, Johnson captured the race win after scooting
through the Hamlin restart accident unscathed, as he looked to avenge his loss
to Stewart in the 2005 finals.
Final
(4) #48 Jimmie Johnson v. (2) #20 Tony Stewart
The championship rematch started at Texas, where
Johnson once again came through in the clutch. After an intense battle with
Kenseth for the race lead, the silver #48 ride eventually completed the pass
with two laps to go for the race win. Despite surviving a multi-car crash with
minimal issues, Stewart could only muster an 11th-place finish. Stewart
had a stronger run at Phoenix, fighting through a midpack starting spot to grab
a fourth-place result at the site of his second career win. However, Johnson
remained unstoppable, as he led the final 24 laps on the way to his fourth
straight race win and, more importantly, his first career Cup Series title
after several years of promising playoff runs.
Johnson’s stats for 2007 were an astounding 10
victories, 20 top-fives and 24 top-10s, as he scored the real-life championship
as well.
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