Best Buy Racing Crew Ends Season with 26th-Place Run at Homestead-Miami Speedway

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Nov. 18) – The 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season came to an end at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday evening, with driver Jeremy Mayfield and the No. 66 Best Buy Racing team posting a 26th-place finish in the 400-mile race.

“The car was tight all night,” Mayfield said. “My crew gave me some great pit stops, and Harold (Holly, crew chief) made some great pit calls to give us track position. We made some pretty aggressive changes to the car and those helped, but we just never got it working like we needed it.

“I’m looking forward to 2008 and having a full season with this team. The guys will be working hard during the off season to get ready for Daytona, and I believe we’ll come out of the box strong.”

Starting from the 34th position, Mayfield stayed in and around the top-35 in the early going of the 267-lap event. On lap 41, Mayfield’s handling issues caused him to go a lap down to the race leaders. Just as Mayfield was about to come to pit road for service, the caution flag came out. This timely turn of events allowed Mayfield to remain on track and receive the “Lucky Dog” pass, returning the Best Buy Chevrolet to the lead lap.

The Best Buy crew made air pressure and chassis adjustments to the No. 66 machine, returning Mayfield to the race in 16th position. Mayfield then stayed out during the next caution period on lap 57 to retain track position, while a number of competitors chose to pit.

The No. 66 was shown in 13th position on the lap 63 restart, but those drivers with newer tires were able to pass Mayfield, dropping him back to 24th position by the time the next caution flag came out on lap 76.

Crew chief Harold Holly called for a two-tire pit stop to help the No. 66 regain track position, but when Mayfield returned to the track, NASCAR officials informed the team Mayfield had exceeded the speed limit while exiting pit road. Mayfield had to come back in and serve a pass-through penalty, so Holly used the opportunity to change the left-side tires on the No. 66 machine.

Mayfield was shown in 27th position on the restart, and remained in the top-30 throughout the remainder of the race. As the driver continued to deal with a tight handling condition, the team made several aggressive chassis changes on later pit stops, including shock adjustments, adding spring rubbers into the car’s left rear spring and track bar adjustments.

While the changes improved the car’s handling, Mayfield eventually fell two laps down to the race leaders on his way to a 26th-place result.

The race was won by Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DeWalt Ford), who also claimed a fourth-place finish in the Chase for the Championship. In fact, all of the top-five finishers in the race were among the 12 drivers in the Chase. Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Ford) finished second, Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet) was third, Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) came home fourth and Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) rounded out the top-five.

While Jimmie Johnson finished outside the top-five in the race (Johnson finished seventh-place), it was good enough for him to claim his second NEXTEL Cup Series championship in as many seasons, as he bested his teammate, Jeff Gordon, by 77 points.

In fact, Johnson is the final NEXTEL Cup Series champion, as the series will change its name to the Sprint Cup Series for 2008. With Sprint’s purchase of NEXTEL, the parent company has decided to do away with the NEXTEL brand.

With the finish, the team owner of the No. 66, Joe Custer, closes out the season in 31st-place in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup owners’ points standings. Mayfield, who only made 17 starts during the 36-race season, finishes the year 45th in the NEXTEL Cup drivers’ points.

Finishing the season in the top-35 in points gives the team some breathing room heading into 2008. NASCAR refers to the 2007 final points standings when awarding provisional starting positions in the first five races of 2008. This means that even if the No. 66 team has a poor qualifying effort in any of the first five races of 2008, the team is guaranteed a starting spot in those events.

The Sprint Cup series teams now take some well-deserved time off before beginning preparations for the 2008 season, which officially kicks off in Daytona Beach, Fla., at Daytona International Speedway. Teams will test at Daytona in January, with the first event of the season being held in early February. The Budweiser Shootout, an all-star event open to those competitors who won a Budweiser Pole Award during 2007, along with past winners of the shootout itself, will be run on Saturday, February 9th.

The first points race of the season, the 50th running of “The Great American Race,” the Daytona 500, is scheduled for Sunday, February 17th, 2008.