David Stremme briefly held the lead until Elliott Sadler moved in front of him to claim the position, only to lose it to Matt Kenseth on lap 74.

Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, 42 points ahead of Ford and 45 in front of Dodge with seven races left in the season.

[6] Before the race, Kevin Harvick led the Drivers' Championship with 5,230 points, ahead of Denny Hamlin in second and Matt Kenseth third.

[10] Kenseth hoped he would secure a top-five finishing position at Dover, where he débuted in 1998, although he did not rule out the possibility of challenging for the victory.

Ryan Newman, J. J. Yeley, Joe Nemechek, Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch rounded out the session's top ten drivers.

[1] Gordon clinched the 55th pole position of his career, and his first since the 2005 Dodge/Save Mart 350, with a time of 23.053 seconds which was recorded near the session's conclusion.

Riggs missed a gear shift on his lap which meant he overrevved his engine, and was required to change his car's power plant.

Edwards, Reed Sorenson, Biffle, Martin and Kurt Busch rounded out the top ten qualifiers.

Yeley crashed on his first lap after leaving turn one, and his rear-end contacted the wall; he was checked at the infield care center, and later released to continue racing.

The four drivers who failed to qualify were Morgan Shepherd, Kenny Wallace, Chad Blount and Donnie Neuenberger.

[16] Later that day, Earnhardt paced the final practice session (which was delayed by five minutes after paper notes left on Burton's car blew off and were scattered across turn one) with a lap of 23.798; Riggs was second and Edwards third.

[1][17] Live television coverage of the race began at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time in the United States on TNT.

Pastor Dan Schafer, of Calvary Assembly of God, began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation.

The first caution was prompted two laps later when Kvapil spun after leaving turn four and hit the inside frontstretch wall, and heavily damaged his car but continued.

Stewart lost control of his car and spun in turns three and four; he went up the track and collected Kahne, who was sent into the inside wall, causing the second caution on lap 13.

Seven laps later, Ken Schrader made contact with the rear-end of Ragan, who was sent spinning at turn four and stopped on the frontstretch, which triggered the third caution.

Johnson was required to move to the end of the longest line, after a crew member allowed one of his tires to roll outside his pit stall.

[1][19][20] Robby Gordon's tire went down and made heavy contact with the turn three wall, which necessitated the fifth caution.

The sixth caution was triggered on lap 165 when debris from Jamie McMurray's car was located in turns three and four.

The seventh caution came out on lap 185 when Kevin Lepage lost control of his car in turn two, and went backwards into the outside wall, heavily damaging his deck lid.

Stanton Barrett hit the turn four wall near the start-finish line after he lost control of his car on lap 206, which caused the eighth caution to be displayed, and the leaders (including Sorenson) made pit stops.

On lap 298, Riggs' right-front tire failed and hit the turn three wall, prompting the ninth caution which allowed officials to clear the track of debris.

The tenth (and final) caution was required on lap 324 when Yeley lost control of his car leaving turn four; he spun on the backstretch and his rear-end made light contact with the wall.

Gordon lost sixth position when he was passed by Kurt Busch on the 355th lap, while Burton had closed the gap to Kenseth to one second.

On the final lap, Kenseth and Sorenson ran out of fuel, and Burton maintained the lead to win the race, which ended a 175-race winless streak.

Martin Truex Jr., Bobby Labonte, Bowyer, Hamlin and Kenseth rounded out the top ten finishers.

[2] Burton appeared in victory lane to celebrate his first win of the season in front of the crowd; earning him $230,370.

"[21] Second-place finisher Edwards congratulated Burton on his victory and said the race was "fun": "We had an awesome Ford Fusion.

[23] Stewart was upset for damaging Kahne's car: "Wrecking is one thing, but when you take out somebody that's in the Chase, you've screwed up a whole team's year by one race.

"[23] The result left Burton leading the Drivers' Championship with 5,351 points, ahead of Jeff Gordon on 5,345.