Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson finished second and Richard Childress Racing driver Jeff Burton was third.

Although Scott Riggs won the pole position by setting the fastest lap time in the qualifying session, he was immediately passed by teammate Kahne at the start of the race.

Kahne's victory moved him from ninth to eighth, while Jeff Gordon dropped from seventh to tenth because he failed to score enough points due to an engine failure in the race's closing laps.

Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, 48 points in front of Dodge and 54 ahead of Ford with five races left in the season.

[2] It ran for a total of 334 laps over a distance of 501 mi (806 km),[5] and was held on October 14, 2006, in Concord, North Carolina, at Lowe's Motor Speedway,[2] an intermediate track.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten drivers competing in the 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup.

[10] NASCAR mandated that teams use a 13.8-US-gallon (52 L; 11.5 imp gal) fuel cell for the second time in the season so there would be fewer laps between pit stops and more tire changes could occur.

The duo believed Goodyear had rectified problems with harder-compound tires that had been raised at the previous round at Charlotte (the Coca-Cola 600).

[13] After he was rammed by his teammate Brian Vickers in the preceding UAW-Ford 500, Johnson said the expectations for him to succeed at Lowe's Motor Speedway were high and hoped the track's surface would be more predictable than the last race at Charlotte.

Red Bull Racing Team elected to start operations early as part of a warm-up exercise to running a full-time schedule in the 2007 season with the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion Bill Elliott driving the No.

Elliott said he was required to qualify the car for the race and then move up the field and provide input that would allow the team to be prepared for the 2007 Daytona 500.

[1] Riggs clinched the third pole position of his career, and his third consecutive at Lowe's Motor Speedway, with a fastest time of 28.203 seconds.

He was joined on the grid's front row by Kahne, his Evernham Motorsports teammate, who held the pole position until Riggs' lap.

[22] Kurt Busch originally qualified in third, but his car's right-rear shock absorber was found to have violated NASCAR regulations during the post-qualifying inspection because it did not bounce back.

[22] The nine drivers who failed to qualify were Elliott, Kevin Lepage, Derrike Cope, Chad Chaffin, Hermie Sadler, Kirk Shelmerdine, Kenny Wallace (who crashed on his first timed lap),[24] Morgan Shepherd (who withdrew due to a lack of preparation),[25] and Carl Long (who crashed while attempting to record a timed lap).

[24] After the qualifier, Riggs said his team knew his car was decent and revealed that they wanted to get back into a rhythm of starting and finishing in a top position.

[1] Later, on Saturday afternoon, Earnhardt led the final practice session with a time of 29.357; Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Kahne, Johnson, Bowyer.

This triggered a multi-car accident: Mike Bliss hit the rear of Hamlin's car, sending him spinning down the front stretch, which then involved Mike Skinner, Truex, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Petty, J. J. Yeley, Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Newman, and Nemechek.

[29] As the field drove through the first turn, a caution was issued immediately, because three safety vehicles were on the track as crew members did not hear there would be another lap added before racing resumed.

[30] Two laps later, Dave Blaney spun after leaving turn four and hit the outside barrier with his car's left-rear quarter, triggering the second caution.

[1][29] Tony Raines decided not to make a pit stop and led the field back up to speed at the lap-22 restart,[30] ahead of Newman, McMurray, Terry Labonte, and Riggs.

[1] On lap 33, Sorenson ran into the rear of Dale Jarrett's car, which spun backwards into the turn four wall, prompting the third caution.

[30] Lap 105 saw the fifth caution; Waltrip lost control of his car and hit the turn four outside wall, causing him to spin while attempting to make a pit stop for fuel.

Johnson steered left at turn three and passed Kahne for the lead on lap 211 and started to pull away from the rest of the field.

Jeff Gordon's engine failed after he crossed the start-finish line on lap 302, triggering the race's final caution.

"[35] Shortly after leaving his car, Martin said he believed it was not possible for him to clinch the championship: "They tell me a lot of people are having trouble anyway, but we didn't need to throw that away.

"[34] Seventh-place finisher Raines was happy to hold the first position for 28 laps saying it was "extra special" to lead a race at Charlotte.

[35] Tom Bowles of Frontstretch opined that, had the caution flag not been displayed for the three safety vehicles on lap nine, it could have resulted in "one of the most disastrous accidents in NASCAR history.

"[38] Johnson and Burton stated it was difficult to achieve a rhythm because of the small fuel cells mandated for the race and the hard-compound tires.

Temperatures had been warmer than the previous day's Busch Series race and this gave the drivers more grip although sliding was observed during both events.