Johnson led for a total of 38 laps en route to his fourth victory of the season, his first at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the 22nd of his career.

Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, 38 points ahead of Dodge, and 40 in front of Ford with fifteen races remaining in the season.

[6] Before the race Jimmie Johnson led the Drivers' Championship with 2,939 points, with Matt Kenseth in second and Jeff Burton third.

Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart rounded out the top ten with six races of the regular season remaining until the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

[10] In preparation for the race, NASCAR held the fifth of its six test days for Nextel Cup entrants on July 10–12 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sterling Marlin, David Stremme, Kenseth, Chad Chaffin and Greg Biffle all damaged their cars in collisions with the barriers lining the track.

Stremme, Scott Wimmer, Harvick and Paul Menard rounded out the session's top ten drivers.

[15] Boris Said made contact with a right-hand side wall leaving turn four, but he escaped with minor damage to his car.

[17] Early in the session, Michael Waltrip hit the turn four wall, but sustained no major damage to his car.

[2] Sorenson lost control of his vehicle in turn one, causing him to spin backwards into a wall forty minutes in.

Sorenson's car was heavily damaged, and he was transported to the infield care center for a pre-cautionary check-up and later released.

[2] A widely believed perception in the paddock was that the first cars to set lap times would have more of an advantage over those that drove later in qualifying as track temperatures rose.

[16] In what was considered a "surprise" result,[19] Burton clinched his third pole position of the season, and the fifth of his career, with an early lap of 49.240 seconds.

He was joined on the grid's front row by his Richard Childress Racing teammate Bowyer who was two-thousands of a second slower.

[22] The seven drivers who failed to qualify were Paul Menard, Waltrip, Johnny Sauter, Kevin Lepage, Leicht, Hamilton and Derrike Cope.

Bowyer had a similar issue with his car's left-front tire coming off turn four but he stopped in a safe location.

Howard Brammer, reverend of Traders Point Christian Church in downtown Indianapolis, began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation.

Kelly Rowland of the American girl group Destiny's Child performed the national anthem, and the chairwoman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Mari Hulman George commanded the drivers to start their engines.

During the pace laps, Chaffin and Dale Jarrett went to the back of the grid for changing their engines, and Kurt Busch did the same after going into his back-up car.

[25] NASCAR scheduled a competition caution for laps 15 and 40 to enable teams to check the state of their tires after drivers raised concerns about their lifespan.

[26] The race started at 2:54 p.m. Burton maintained the lead going into the first turn, and pulled way to hold a small but healthy gap by the end of the first lap.

On the lap, the third caution came out for Said who was hit at the rear of his car by Sorenson, causing Said to collide with a wall between turns three and four, and rested facing the opposite direction in the infield grass.

[28][29] Johnson continued to drive slower than the rest of the field until the discarded rubber that was left on the track necessitated the fourth caution.

[25] As Johnson exited his pit stall, a fire ignited due to him burning fuel that spilt onto the concrete surface but safety crews quickly extinguished the blaze.

Edwards fell from second to eighth because his stop was problematic as his crew could not correctly fit a lug nut for his front-right tire.

[25] Kyle Busch chose not to make a pit stop, and led the field at the lap 147 restart, with Earnhardt second and Newman third.

[28] Riggs ran into the rear of Robby Gordon's vehicle who slid upwards into the side of Biffle's car; both drivers spun leaving turn two.

"[34] Nevertheless, Stewart spoke of his happiness over coming eighth despite losing positions because of a mistake by his pit crew, "I think I passed 60 cars or more today.

"[35] Earnhardt said that while he could not take the victory, he was attempting to maintain his position to the best of his ability, "I'd love having a better car and not having to make that call (to stay out).

Burton maintained the third position, while Harvick's third-place finish allowed him to tie with Kyle Busch on points for fourth.