NASCAR NNCS (DAYTONA) - AN ONGOING LOOK AT THE 2007 SEASON

Six drivers have won NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races this season, potentially earning 10 valuable bonus points for each victory. If those drivers make the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, their “seedings” entering the Chase will be determined by the number of wins they accumulated over the first 26 races of the season. Jimmie Johnson, currently with four victories, has earned a potential 40 bonus points if he were to make the Chase. Jeff Gordon made significant strides with back-to-back victories, bringing his potential bonus points to 20.

2007 Season Highlights • Jimmie Johnson has won four races, accumulating a potential 40 points toward his seeding, if he qualifies for the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup. • The Car of Tomorrow made its debut, running at Bristol, Martinsville, Phoenix and Richmond. • Toyota made its NASCAR NEXTEL Cup debut. • Jeff Gordon won his 77th career race, breaking a tie with Dale Earnhardt for sixth on the all-time win list. Gordon had tied Earnhardt’s mark of 76 wins the prior week in Phoenix. • Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon has led the points for the past six weeks. • At Bristol, Chevrolet posted its 600th victory.

Qualifying • There have been four different Bud Pole winners: Jeff Gordon (five); David Gilliland, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin (one each). Qualifying was canceled due to inclement weather at Texas. • Ryan Newman’s pole at Atlanta ended a streak of 20 races without a pole – the longest of his career. • Jeff Gordon leads all other drivers with eight top-10 starts this season – all top-fives.

First-timers • David Ragan finished fifth in the Daytona 500, earning a top-10 ranking in the point standings for the first time in his career. • Aric Almirola and Jon Wood both made their first career start when they qualified at Las Vegas. • AJ Allmendinger and Regan Smith both made their first career start at Bristol.

The Races • There have been six different race winners, led by Jimmie Johnson who posted back-to-back victories at Las Vegas and Atlanta and then won at Martinsville and Richmond. • Johnson’s victory at Las Vegas was his third consecutive win there. • Jeff Gordon (two) is the only other repeat race winner. • Gordon has posted nine top-10 finishes – two more than any other driver. • The Richmond race was postponed to Sunday. The last time a race was postponed to the next day was Talladega in April-May 2006. The last time at Richmond was May 2002. May 2002 was also the last daytime race at Richmond.

Laps Completed • Only two drivers have completed every lap: Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth. • Denny Hamlin has completed all but two laps this season. • Mark Martin has completed every lap in the seven races in which he has competed. • 28 of the 33 drivers that have competed in every race have completed at least 90 percent of the laps.

Laps Led • No driver has led in every race this season. Jeff Gordon has led in nine races. • Jeff Gordon leads all other drivers in bonus points earned this season with 65. • Jeff Gordon has led 652 of the 3,286 laps – 19.84 percent of the laps raced.

Points • Only two drivers have ranked in the top 10 in points for every race: Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon. • Mark Martin led the points from California through Atlanta, becoming the oldest driver to lead the points for more than a week under the current point system. Martin, who is 48, falls behind Bobby Allison (51 in 1988) and Morgan Shepherd (49 in 1990) as the third-oldest driver to lead the points. Allison and Shepherd both led the standings for just one week at that age. • Jeff Gordon assumed the points lead after Bristol. • Kurt Busch moved into 10th in the point standings with his third-place finish at Talladega, his first time in the top 10 since he finished the 2005 season in 10th place. • Jeff Burton dropped from second to fifth at Richmond – prompting the only change in the top five in point standings since Martinsville. • David Ragan ranked fifth in the point standings for the first two weeks of the season, the highest point standings by a Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate in 2007.

Turn Around • David Stremme has made the largest gain over his 2006 final point standing – gaining 16 positions from 33rd to 17th.

Car Owner Points • Sterling Marlin and the No. 14 Ginn Racing Chevrolet was the only driver in the first five races of the season that had to make the field on time and do so in all five races. • The biggest gain in car owner points over the final 2006 standings is held by the No. 01 owned by Bobby Ginn. The No. 01 ranked 28th in the final 2006 owner point standings and is currently 22 positions ahead of that ranking. • Only one of the teams in the current top 35 in owner points did not compete in 2006: Bobby Ginn (No. 13).

Car Owner Streaks • Hendrick Motorsports won four consecutive races (Las Vegas through Martinsville). The previous two times this has occurred were also by Hendrick Motorsports (September-October 1996 and July-August 1998).

Manufacturer • Chevrolet and Dodge debuted new models for the Car of Tomorrow in its inaugural race at Bristol. The new Chevrolet model was an Impala, while the Dodge was an Avenger. It was the first race for the Impala model since the mid-1960s and the first-ever for the Avenger. • Chevrolet got its 600th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory with Kyle Busch’s win at Bristol. Busch’s victory was the first for the Chevrolet Impala since Wendell Scott won at Jacksonville (Fla.) Speedway Park on Dec. 1, 1963.

Blazing Start • Chevrolet has won eight of the first nine races this season, the best start to a season for a manufacturer since Chevrolet won the first seven races in 1995. • Ford notched nine consecutive wins in 1992, the longest streak to start a season ever. • Ford won 33 of the first 34 races of the 55-race 1965 season. Mercury won the second race of the season that year.