The 312-lap race was won by Jimmie Johnson of the Hendrick Motorsports team after starting from third position.

Many Chase for the Sprint Cup participants, including Gordon and Martin ran in the top ten for most of the race.

Johnson maintained the first position to lead the most laps of 238, and to win his seventh race of the season.

The event saw Johnson claim his seventh race victory of the 2009 season, and the forty-seventh of his career.

[3] It took place on November 15, 2009, in Avondale, Arizona, at Phoenix International Raceway,[6] a short track that holds NASCAR races.

Jeff Gordon followed in third with 6,185 points, fifty-nine ahead of Kurt Busch, and ninety-eight in front of Tony Stewart in fourth and fifth.

Carl Edwards and Brian Vickers in eleventh and twelfth with 5,857 and 5,777 points rounded out the contenders for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

[10] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet were leading with 247 points, fifty-five ahead of their rival Toyota.

[14] For his part, Johnson remained confident about his chances of winning the title, "We still have a nice lead and we'll take it from here... We're still in a great position and we'll go to Phoenix and race.

[16] Martin said he would not change his strategy of attempting to secure victory in his bid to win his first championship, adding, "We aren't in control of anything else that happens.

[19] Martin Truex Jr. clinched his third pole position of the season and the fourth of his career at his first attempt to set a time, with a lap of 26.643 seconds.

Johnson qualified third, Kahne took fourth after he had held pole position earlier in the session, and Hamlin started fifth.

[19] Biffle, Kyle Busch, Stewart, Casey Mears and Martin completed the top ten positions.

Montoya, Johnson, Martin, Stewart and Gordon rounded out the top ten fastest drivers in the session.

[23] Kahne scraped the turn two wall and sustained minor damage to the right-hand quarter of his car.

Phoenix International Raceway chaplin Ken Bowers began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation.

One lap later, Kurt Busch extended his lead over Truex to 1.6 seconds, as Gordon moved into fifth position.

[26] By lap 60, Johnson built up a 1.5 second lead over Kurt Busch, while Hamlin moved into the third position.

Green flag pit stops took place from lap 65 to 73; Kurt Busch reclaimed the lead at the end of the cycle.

[26] On lap 90, Johnson passed Kurt Busch to take over the lead position by using Reed Sorenson for drafting purposes.

Also, the second caution was prompted when Michael Waltrip damaged his car on that restart, Brad Keselowski was hit from behind and David Ragan spun sideways.

None of the leaders chose to make pit stops, as the clean-up crew came on track to clear debris and fluids.

On lap 129, Kyle Busch and Gordon made contact, but both managed to continue, without damaging their cars.

On lap 162, Johnson's lead of 3.4 seconds was reduced to nothing when debris was spotted on the track, causing a caution.

[26] Two laps later, a multi-car collision occurred on the narrow front straightway as Earnhardt lost control of his car while driving on the inside of Ambrose,[25][28] and collected Logano, Scott Speed, Hornish, Bobby Labonte, Kenseth, Stewart, Vickers and Keselowski.

Kurt Busch, Bowyer, Montoya, Gordon and Reutimann rounded out the top ten finishers.

", he continued, "When I go home tonight, I'm going to be (mentally) driving laps, what I think I need to do in qualifying trim so I can put my best effort in on Friday.

"[31] In the subsequent post-race press conference, Hamlin said, "Anytime that Jimmie is down is not usually because of performance, it's usually because of an incident like last week.

[33] After the race, Martin who finished fourth, was less optimistic about his championship chances, "We've still got to go to Homestead and run like this again because we've still got that threat behind us, Jeff Gordon, especially.

"[34] Gordon maintained third with 6,323 points but he would be mathematically ineligible to claim the championship when the season-ending Ford 400 commenced one week later.