Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER NOTES FOR CHECKER AUTO PARTS 500 NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RACE AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2007.

Martin Truex Jr. led three times for 72 laps to earn WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors in today’s Checker Auto Parts 500. Truex Jr. claimed the honor for the second time in the last three races and third time in 2007. He had led 578 laps in 16 races and has led at least one lap in each of the last three consecutive NEXTEL Cup events.

Truex Jr. scored a seventh-place finish, his 13th top-10 this season.

UNOFFICIALLY Truex Jr. is 11th in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings, 47 behind 10th-place Kurt Busch and 36 ahead of 12th-place Denny Hamlin.

TRUEX JR. QUOTES: “We had an awesome car all day long. The cautions didn’t fall the way we needed them to. We lost our track position there that one time and could never really get it back. We needed it go green that one time when all those guys pitted early and stayed out on us. We needed it to go green for a while so it’d cycle back through and we’d all pit together. It was unfortunate at the end. We stayed out. We were taking a gamble. If we pitted I don’t think we could have won so we stayed out and tried to do what we could do. We were a sitting duck there at the end.” DO YOU HAVE TO GAMBLE ON PIT STRATEGY TO HAVE A CHANCE TO BEAT JIMMIE JOHNSON? “Well, we were trying to beat everyone, not just him. I thought that we had a better car than he did all day. It seems like at the end they get something extra from somewhere. I don’t know where it’s from but they’ve been doing it lately. I had fun all day. We ran really well and won the WIX award. I thought we had the car to beat there for a long time and just lost our track position.”

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD STANDINGS
Jeff Gordon 8
Tony Stewart 5
Denny Hamlin 4 
Jimmie Johnson 4
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3
Martin Truex Jr. 3 
Clint Bowyer 2 
Kyle Busch 2
Robby Gordon 1
Kasey Kahne 1 
Kevin Harvick 1 

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE
EVENT DRIVER
Daytona 500 Tony Stewart (35 laps) 
Auto Club 500 Matt Kenseth (133 laps)
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Jeff Gordon (111 laps)
Kobalt Tools 500 Jimmie Johnson (135 laps)
Food City 500 Tony Stewart (257 laps)
Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (137 laps)
Samsung 500 Jeff Gordon (173 laps)
Subway Fresh Fit 500 Tony Stewart (132 laps)
Aaron’s 499 Jeff Gordon (71 laps) 
Crown Royal 400 Jeff Gordon (114 laps)
Dodge Avenger 500 Denny Hamlin (179 laps)
Coca-Cola 600 Jimmie Johnson (83 laps)
Autism Speaks 400 presented by Visa Martin Truex Jr. (216 laps)
Pocono 500 Denny Hamlin (49 laps) 
Citizens Bank 400 Jimmie Johnson (56 laps)
Toyota/Save Mart 350 Robby Gordon (48 laps)
LENOX Industrial Tools 300 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (64 laps)
Pepsi 400 Clint Bowyer (55 laps)
USG SHEETROCK 400 Tony Stewart (108 laps)
Allstate 400 at The Brickyard Tony Stewart (65 laps)
Pennsylvania 500 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (eight laps)
Centurion Boats at The Glen Jeff Gordon (51 laps)
3M Performance 400 Jeff Gordon (25 laps)
Sharpie 500 Kasey Kahne (305 laps)
Sharp AQUOS 500 Kyle Busch (97 laps)
Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Jeff Gordon (191 laps)
Sylvania 300 Clint Bowyer (222 laps)
Dodge Dealers 400 Denny Hamlin (61 laps)
LifeLock 400 Tony Stewart (13 laps)
UAW-Ford 500 Denny Hamlin (40 laps)
Bank of America 500 Jimmie Johnson (95 laps)
Subway 500 Jeff Gordon (168 laps)
Pep Boys Auto 500 Martin Truex Jr. (135 laps)
Dickies 500 Kyle Busch (153 laps)
Checker Auto Parts 500 Martin Truex Jr. (72 laps)