The event marked the debut of the Car of Tomorrow at a superspeedway, but it was heavily criticized for its lack of visibility, and drivers raised fears of becoming airborne if hit.

Johnson led as the final lap began, but Gordon went to the outside of the track, and was bump-drafted by Tony Stewart, allowing him to claim his fifth victory of the season, his sixth at Talladega Superspeedway, the 80th of his career, and he took over from Dale Earnhardt as the driver with the most restrictor plate wins, twelve.

The result advanced Gordon to the Drivers' Championship's lead, and his teammate Johnson (who led coming into the race) fell to second.

Chevrolet increased their unassailable lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, while Ford, Dodge and Toyota continued to occupy the remaining three places with six races left in the season.

[6] Before the race, Jimmie Johnson led the Drivers' Championship with 5,506 points, with teammate Jeff Gordon second and Clint Bowyer third.

[11] Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby stated NASCAR changed the wording of the regulations to provide clarity and to have a starting point in controlling top speeds, "Basically, it says we're going to start out with this size of a restrictor plate, and if everything proves out OK, we'll leave it, but the ultimate restrictor-plate size won't be determined until the conclusion of final Cup practice.

88 Robert Yates Racing car while the team's regular driver Ricky Rudd continued to recover from a shoulder injury.

Positions three through ten were filled by Ken Schrader, Robby Gordon, Kyle Petty, Kasey Kahne, David Stremme, Martin Truex Jr., Greg Biffle, and Burton.

[17] After practice, drivers complained of hindered visibility at the front of the car, due to a larger cockpit and spoiler.

[1] Toyotas took five of the first six spots, as Michael Waltrip clinched the fourth pole position of his career, and his first since the 2005 Pocono 500, with a time of 50.648 seconds.

[19] The next three spots on the grid was composed of drivers who were required to qualify on time or risk missing the race: Villeneuve, John Andretti, and Bobby Labonte.

The eight drivers who failed to qualify were A. J. Allmendinger, Boris Said, Scott Riggs, Sam Hornish Jr., Jeremy Mayfield, Sterling Marlin, Ward Burton and Kevin Lepage.

[20] Kurt Busch and David Ragan's cars were found to be too low at the front during post-qualifying inspection, and were mandated to start at the back of the field.

[24] Around the start of the race, weather conditions were mostly sunny with the air temperature at 89 °F (32 °C); a ten percent chance of rain was forecast.

[1] A moment of silence was held in honor of former NASCAR president Bill France Jr. Frank Stark of Raceway Ministries began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation.

Miss University of Alabama Stephanie Shelton performed the national anthem, and Dave Sparks, an employee of the race's sponsor, commanded the drivers to start their engines.

During the pace laps, McMurray moved to the rear of the field because he changed his engine, and Casey Mears did the same for illegal adjustments to his car.

[24] The race started at 2:21 p.m. Waltrip led the pack on the run to the first corner, but Blaney got ahead of him to take the first position at the end of the first lap.

[24] The first caution was necessitated on lap 17 as Andretti's right-front tire blew, removing one of his car's fenders, and scattering debris on the track.

However, Sadler lost the lead to Hamlin on lap 27, as some competitors created three-abreast racing by forming a middle lane.

The race restarted on lap 67 as Hamlin led Stewart and Kyle Busch in a single file line.

[24] Waltrip returned to the lead on lap 88, as Reutimann got into second by joining the pack of cars on the bottom line.

Two laps later, Jeff Burton's engine failed, laying oil and debris on the track, and calling for the race's third caution as he returned to pit road to retire.

Three abreast-racing temporarily ended on lap 101, as the main pack of cars fell into a single line behind Stewart.

[1][24] Most drivers, including Sadler, elected to make pit stops for fuel and tyres under the caution period.

The seventh caution was waved one lap later for Schrader whose right-front tire blew, causing him to clout the turn four wall.

Another six laps passed until the eighth caution was called for, when Petty's tire blew and he crashed into the turn three wall.

However, the top five of Stewart, Newman, Kurt Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kahne temporarily split from the rest of the pack by the 173rd lap.

"[30] Third-placed Blaney revealed his team's objective was to preserve his car and return to the top 35 in points, "I didn't want to do anything to put it in harm's way.

"[32] Kenseth said his strategy was to run at the rear of the pack, and believed spectators did not want to see that, adding, "We rode around for about 350–400 miles and then sooner or later you've got to go race and try to get a partner up there and see how your car is gonna handle.