2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)

The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 59th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 36th modern-era Cup series season.

The season was the final year that the NASCAR Cup Series was known as the Nextel Cup Series. As a result of the 2005 merger of Nextel Communications with Sprint Corporation, and the subsequent decision by the newly named Sprint Nextel Corporation, the name of the series was changed to the Sprint Cup Series for 2008.

Mark Martin's schedule
The other concerned the part-time schedule being undertaken by Mark Martin. Because he had planned a part-time schedule in the No. 01 Ginn Racing U.S. Army ride, Martin reiterated that he would not run in all races on the circuit. He relinquished the lead by passing on the spring races at Bristol and Martinsville. Rookie drivers Regan Smith and Aric Almirola drove the No. 01 car in those races, as owner points had that car an exempt team for Bristol (from 2006) and Martinsville. However, Martin extended his schedule to include a few more points races, but did not race the full season.

Joe Gibbs Racing to Toyota
During the season rumors began to surface that Joe Gibbs Racing, owned by then-Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, would be switching to the new manufacturer Toyota for the 2008 season. This switch would be significant for several reasons, one of them being that JGR had been allied with General Motors since its inception in 1992, first with Chevrolet then beginning in 1997 with Pontiac, then switched back to Chevrolet in 2003, a year before Pontiac left NASCAR. The switch to Toyota would benefit the manufacturer itself, as they would be allied with a championship-caliber team. As JGR loans equipment to Hall of Fame Racing, the team confirmed that they would also switch to Toyota if JGR did so. On September 5, the rumors were confirmed.

Dale Jarrett announces retirement
During the race weekend for the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing held a press conference. During the announcement, it was revealed to the racing world that Dale Jarrett would retire from full-time driving following the end of the 2008 season. After 2008, Jarrett would hand over the #18 car to Kyle Busch, and joined ESPN as a color commentator, just as his father Ned was a color commentator for CBS.

Technical changes
The big change came in the form of a brand-new manufacturer. Toyota, having first entered NASCAR via the Goody's Dash Series, entered the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2004, and after several years of rumors, announced in 2006 they would be entering the Nextel Cup and Busch Series in 2007 with the Camry.

In terms of existing manufacturers, Chevrolet and Ford made no changes to the Monte Carlo SS and Fusion, respectively. Dodge, meanwhile, debuted a new nose for the Charger. The old nose had an awkward notch in an attempt to better resemble its street-faring counterpart, but this created problems with aero and downforce, so much so that Pacific Coast Racing, Dodge's top team, refused to run the Charger at intermediates and instead used the 2004 Stratus throughout 2005 and 2006. Penske and Petty had also used Stratuses at tracks such as California early in 2006, but while Dodge could tolerate PCR running older cars, Penske and Petty were expected to fall in line and run the Charger. After Roger Penske threatened to go back to Ford for showing blatant favoritism towards PCR, Dodge redesigned the Charger with a rounder, cleaner nose for 2007. This satisfied PCR enough for them to run the Charger at intermediates two years after its return to NASCAR.