Track president Eddie Gossage later announced that the total purse money for the race was $6,815,880, then the largest in Chase history, and the fourth largest during the 2005 season, trailing the Daytona 500, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, and the Samsung/RadioShack 500.

The race was created as a result of the Ferko lawsuit, which took out the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, along with the Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway.

Following the first caution flag, Greg Biffle passed Kenseth, but had to pit due to a loose wheel.

Later in the race, with 11 laps remaining, Mark Martin did not change tires, and led on the restart.

However, with two laps left, Carl Edwards, on newer tires, passed Martin and held him and Kenseth off for the victory[7] by a margin of .584 seconds.