2007 Kroger 200 (IRP)

The 2007 Kroger 200 was a NASCAR Busch Series race held at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Indiana on July 28, 2007. The race was the 26th iteration of the event and the 22nd race of the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series. Aric Almirola won the pole and led the 2nd most laps at 87 behind Greg Biffle who led the most laps at 94. But it was Jason Leffler who scored a historic upset victory giving the new first year manufacture Toyota its first ever NASCAR Busch Series victory.

Background
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, about 10 mi northwest of downtown Indianapolis. It includes a 0.686 mi oval track, a 2.5 mi road course (which has fallen into disrepair and is no longer used), and a 4400 ft drag strip which is among the premier drag racing venues in the world. The complex receives about 500,000 visitors annually.

Entry List

 * (R) denotes rookie driver

Qualifying
Aric Almirola won the pole for the race with a time of 22.481 and a speed of 109.853.

* – Made the field via owners points

** – There were 5 different driver changes by Raceday as there were drivers qualifying the cars for the Cup Series drivers. Kertus Davis qualified for J. J. Yeley, Erik Darnell qualified for David Ragan, Brandon Miller qualified for Scott Wimmer, Travis Kvapil qualified for Carl Edwards, and Mark Green qualified for David Reutimann. This was during the peak of the Buschwhacker era where Cup Series drivers would drive in the Busch Series and would ask for other drivers to qualify their Busch Series car while they tried to qualify the Cup Series race which would be the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

*** – David Ragan, David Reutimann, Carl Edwards, J. J. Yeley, Scott Wimmer, Kevin Hamlin, Morgan Shepherd, and Brett Rowe all had to go to the rear of the field. Ragan, Reutimann, Edwards, Yeley, and Wimmer all had driver changes, Hamlin had unapproved impound adjustment, Shepherd had an engine change, and Rowe missed the drivers meeting.

Race
Pole sitter Aric Almirola led the first lap of the race. The first caution of the race flew on lap 14 when Landon Cassill crashed in turns 1 and 2 after he got spun by Steve Wallace. During the caution period, some drivers pitted. On pit road, a scary accident occurred. Ron Hornaday went in to pit and one of his tire carriers went out there but went a bit too far out and got clipped by the oncoming Richard Johns, whose stall was two ahead of Hornaday. The contact sent the crew member to flip onto his head while the tire landed on Johns' roof. Fortunately, the crew guy was not severely hurt. The race would restart on lap 19. On lap 44, the second caution would fly when David Ragan crashed in turn 4 after he got spun by Josh Wise. Bobby East and Ron Hornaday did not pit and East led the field to the restart on lap 51. On the restart, Hornaday took the lead from East. On lap 55, Aric Almirola took the lead. On lap 69, the third caution flew when Scott Lagasse Jr. came up in front of Brad Coleman down the frontstretch and Coleman hooked Lagasse and both went into the outside wall. The race would restart on lap 74. On lap 96, the 4th caution would fly when Brett Rowe blew a right front tire and hit the outside wall in turns 3 and 4. Greg Biffle won the race off of pit road but Deac McCaskill, Brian Keselowski, and D. J. Kennington did not pit and McCaskill led the field to the restart on lap 102. On the next lap, Greg Biffle would take the lead from McCaskill.

Final laps
On lap 140, the 5th caution would fly when Richard Johns hit the outside wall in turns 1 and 2. The race would restart on lap 145. But on lap 146, the 6th caution would fly when Deac McCaskill crashed in turn 4 after getting spun by Landon Cassill. The race would restart with 51 laps to go. With 45 to go, the 7th caution flew when Deac McCaskill crashed again in almost the same spot as before. The race would restart with 37 laps to go. With 36 to go, Carl Edwards challenged his teammate Biffle for the lead. Biffle raced side by side with Edwards for a lot of laps and Edwards got the lead change with 33 to go but could not pass Biffle and ended up falling back to 4th after he got passed by David Reutimann and Jason Leffler with around 26 to go. It looked like Biffle was gonna hold off everyone and win after Reutimann and Leffler began to fight hard with each other for 2nd place. Leffler and Reutimann even made contact a few times before Leffler got passed Reutimann with 13 to go and Leffler began to close in on Biffle. It looked like it was going to be almost a photo finish between Biffle and Leffler. But with 9 to go, the 8th and final caution flew when Josh Wise spun down the frontstretch. The race would restart with 5 laps to go in the race. With 4 to go, Biffle's car slid high in turns 1 and 2 giving Leffler a shot to take the lead from him. Leffler fought hard with Biffle for the lead and with 3 to go, Leffler passed Biffle for the lead. Biffle tried to catch him but Leffler began to pull away and Jason Leffler won the race. This would the third and final time a non Cup Series driver won a Busch Series race in 2007. The win would make NASCAR history as it would be Leffler's second and final career Busch Series win, but it would also be Toyota's first ever Busch Series win as a manufacturer. Since this win, Toyota has won 196 races as of 2023, 91 of those wins coming from Kyle Busch from 2008 to 2022. Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, Carl Edwards, and Ron Hornaday rounded out the top 5 while Aric Almirola, Scott Wimmer, Kevin Hamlin, Mike Bliss, and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.