The race was scheduled to start at 7:14 p.m. Eastern time, but the threat of bad weather moved the start up to 7:05 p.m. It was all for naught, however. NASCAR made the decision to postpone the race to Sunday at 1:16 p.m.
First half Start The race started at 1:19 p.m. with
Joey Logano leading the field to the green flag. With all the rubber being washed away by the rain, the cars were primarily running the bottom groove. Coming out of turn 4 on lap 4,
Danica Patrick got hit by
Casey Mears and about spun out. She saved the car and the race remained green. Logano caught the end of the field ten laps into the race. By lap 21,
Kurt Busch began reeling in the leader. By lap 42, Busch, his teammate
Kevin Harvick, and
Martin Truex Jr. pulled within a second of Logano. The first caution of the day flew on lap 51. This was a planned competition caution for overnight rain. The top ten in the running order entering pit road would've remained the same exiting, but
Jamie McMurray, who was running eighth, had to make another pit stop for loose lug nuts. He restarted the race in 30th position. The race restarted on lap 57. After 40 laps, Busch pulled up to the leader. Using the lapped car of
Josh Wise as a pick, Busch passed to the inside of Logano to take the lead on lap 96. The second caution flew on lap 124 when
Joey Gase, coming off turn 2, got turned by
Aric Almirola and hit inside backstretch wall head-on. Busch swapped the lead with Harvick on pit road with his teammate pitting before the start/finish line. Busch, however, exited pit road with the lead. The race went through a long green flag run with everyone settling into a rhythm. McMurray, who restarted the race earlier in 30th, eventually ran Busch down. and took the lead on lap 260. He gave it back to Busch the next lap and took it back the lap after that. While McMurrary and Busch fought for the lead, many cars began hitting pit road. McMurray gave up the lead to pit on lap 266 and gave it to
Brad Keselowski.
Brett Moffitt had a tire going flat and slammed the wall in turn 1. This brought out the 5th caution on lap 270.
Trevor Bayne also had a tire going flat and hit the wall in turn 4. To add insult to injury for Moffitt, he was forced to restart the race from the tail-end of the field for having too many men over the wall. Fifteen cars took the waive-around, most of whom were cars running in the top ten when the caution came out. "I mean, he hit me right here. I ain't got that good of a peripheral vision. Pretty good, but not that good. Well, it's never his fault. I was doing everything I needed to do. I didn't drive under, I didn't drive into him, I didn't move my line at all. He's gotta take a little ownership in what happened there." The race restarted with 33 laps to go and caution flew for the eighth time when
Jeb Burton got turned on the backstretch. He was rear-ended by
Sam Hornish Jr. exiting turn 2.
Post-race Driver comments “It’s an incredible feeling,” said Busch. “It’s a total team effort. And the way that everything came together just seemed like we were building and building and building towards a great finish like this. And I have this opportunity because of Gene Haas and everybody that’s part of our family at Stewart-Haas. It’s an unbelievable feeling when you pull deep from within and you go through troubles and you know, when you’re accused of something and things go sideways, your personal life doesn’t need to affect your business life.”
Race results Race statistics • 12 lead changes among 5 different drivers • 8 cautions for 53 laps • Time of race: 3 hours, 05 minutes, 16 seconds • Average speed: •
Kurt Busch took home $221,240 in winnings
Race awards •
Coors Light Pole Award:
Joey Logano (21.248, ) •
3M Lap Leader:
Kurt Busch (291 laps) •
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Kurt Busch (22.082, ) •
Duralast Brakes "Bake In The Race" Award: Joey Logano •
Freescale "Wide Open":
Jimmie Johnson •
Ingersoll Rand Power Move:
Ryan Newman (5 positions) •
MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Hendrick Engines, #41 •
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Kurt Busch (148.1 driver rating) •
Moog Steering and Suspension Problem Solver of The Race:
Jamie McMurray (crew chief
Matt McCall (-0.069)) •
NASCAR Sprint Cup Leader Bonus: No winner: rolls over to $60,000 at next event •
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap:
A. J. Allmendinger (Lap 4, 21.659 ) •
Sunoco Rookie of The Race:
Brett Moffitt ==Media==