Background Prior to the race,
Richard Childress Racing driver
Kevin Harvick led the Drivers' Championship with 2,334 points, and
Hendrick Motorsports driver
Jimmie Johnson was second with 2,194 points. Behind them in the Drivers' Championship,
Kyle Busch was third with 2,193 points in a Toyota, and Kyle Busch's teammate
Denny Hamlin was fourth with 2,183 points. In the battle for third place, Ford had 69 points, one point ahead of Dodge.
Tony Stewart followed in fourth as his teammate,
Ryan Newman was scored fifth.
Kyle Busch, and Newman followed in third, and fourth while
Kevin Harvick was fifth. Kyle Busch was scored fourth, and Johnson's teammate
Jeff Gordon was fifth. Montoya clinched his third career pole position, with a time of 28.78. He was joined on the front row of the grid by
Kasey Kahne.
Juan Pablo Montoya led the field to the
start, and he held the lead going through the first corner, as
Kurt Busch passed
Kasey Kahne for the second position. By lap six,
Jeff Gordon had fallen to eighteenth after starting sixteenth. On the ninth lap,
Jimmie Johnson moved into fifth after passing teammate
Mark Martin. The field of drivers started to separate after lap 13, as Montoya led Kahne by 1.2 seconds. On lap 14,
Max Papis went to the garage because of a brake failure. Over the following laps,
Start and park drivers, including
Todd Bodine,
Michael McDowell and
Dave Blaney, went to the garage. Jeff Burton moved into the tenth position after passing
Sam Hornish Jr., as Johnson and
Clint Bowyer moved to fourth and fifth because of passing
Ryan Newman. Stewart finished second, ahead of Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon in third and fourth. ==Results==