The 300-lap race was won by Mark Martin of the Hendrick Motorsports team after starting from fourteenth position.

Montoya, who initially held the pole position by recording the fastest lap time in qualifying, was immediately passed by Tony Stewart.

Chase for the Sprint Cup participants Hamlin and Kurt Busch were in the top ten for most of the race.

Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya and Greg Biffle rounded out the top twelve with 5,000 points each.

Each driver ran two laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times.

David Stremme was the fastest driver who was unable to advance for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in sixth.

Jeff Gordon, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified tenth, while Kahne set the eleventh-fastest time.

Martin was fourth-fastest, ahead of Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hamlin was seventh-fastest, Jeff Gordon eighth-, Harvick ninth- and Stewart tenth-fastest.

[24] The race commenced at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and was televised live in the United States on ESPN.

[1] Commentary was provided by play-by-play announcer Jerry Punch, with analysis by Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree.

Universal Music Group Nashville recording artist Josh Turner performed the national anthem, and Tim Leach, Vice President of Sales, Service and Logistics for Sylvania, gave the command for drivers to start their engines.

Five laps later, Jeff Gordon moved into sixth position, while Edwards passed Labonte for eighth.

On lap 51, Jeff Gordon passed Hamlin for the fourth position, while Mike Wallace took his car to the garage because of brake problems.

[7] Two laps after the restart, the fifth caution was given as a multi-car collision occurred, as Joey Logano and Elliott Sadler collided, collecting Paul Menard, Michael Waltrip, Robby Gordon and John Andretti.

On the next lap, Johnson claimed the lead through turn one, while Sam Hornish Jr. went to his garage due to oil issues.

On lap 193, Allmendinger made contact with Stremme who spun into the wall at turn two, prompting the seventh caution.

[26] Burton and David Reutimann moved into third and fourth respectively after passing Sadler on lap 199.

Kevin Harvick drove to pit road due to mechanical problems twenty-one laps later.

[26] On lap 272, Martin reclaimed the lead as the previous leaders had made their pit stops.

Most of the drivers made pit stops during the caution, although Martin stayed out and remained the leader on the lap 283 restart.

Two laps later, the tenth caution came out after Allmendinger spun in turn two after he made contact with Marcos Ambrose.

[32] On the same lap, Allmendinger lost control of his car at the exit of the fourth turn,[33] and spun sideways on the frontstretch.

Martin was informed of the caution by his spotter and he slowed leaving the final turn as Montoya drove to the inside of Allmendinger.

Kurt Busch, Newman, Sadler, Biffle and Bowyer rounded out the top ten finishers.

Martin appeared in victory lane to celebrate his fifth win of the season,[37] in front of 101,000 who attended the race.

"[40] Hamlin commented that he was at a disadvantage when restarting on the outside lane but that finishing second made him "pretty proud".

[33] Martin commented that Hamlin and Montoya who were behind him did not appear to be aware of the situation,[33] adding, "I was under the impression that when a caution [was] called, the race was over.

[36] Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice-president of competition, said that the organization disliked concluding events under caution and that they waited for as long as possible to avoid affecting the race's result.

[6] The race took three hours, nine minutes and one second to complete; because it ended under caution, no margin of victory was recorded.

Joe Gibbs Racing's penalty, for unauthorized alterations to the ride height of Kyle Busch's car, included a fine of $25,000 for crew chief Steve Addington, and the loss of 25 owner and driver points for Joe Gibbs and Kyle Busch respectively.