Chase for the Sprint Cup participants Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart were in the top ten for most of the race, but in the closing laps all of them suffered spins or other problems.

Afterward, Johnson became the leader of the race, once Allmendinger made a pit stop because of a loose wheel.

The result moved Johnson up to second in the Drivers' Championship, thirty-five points behind Denny Hamlin and ten ahead of Kyle Busch.

[6] Before the race, Denny Hamlin led the Drivers' Championship with 5,230 points, and Kevin Harvick stood in second with 5,185.

[10] During the first practice session, Ryan Newman, for the Stewart Haas Racing team, was quickest ahead of Carl Edwards in second and Kasey Kahne in the third position.

[11] Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, A. J. Allmendinger, Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.

[12] Jimmie Johnson clinched his twenty-fifth pole position in the Sprint Cup Series, with a time of 23.116 seconds.

[13] Tony Stewart, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified twenty-sixth, while Kevin Harvick was scored thirty-fourth.

[13] The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Ted Musgrave, Josh Wise, and Jeff Green.

"[14] Mark Martin, who originally qualified third, started forty-second, after having his time disallowed where the right rear shock exceeded the maximum allowable gas pressure.

[16] Matt Kenseth managed to be fourth fastest, ahead of Martin Truex Jr. and Marcos Ambrose.

[16] Denny Hamlin was scored seventh, Jimmie Johnson took eighth, A. J. Allmendinger was ninth, and Brad Keselowski.

Once they both drove to the garage, they were talking out of anger from the comments that Denny Hamlin had about Clint Bowyer's penalty after New Hampshire.

"[17] The race, the twenty-eighth out of a total of thirty-six in the season, began at 1:00 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on ESPN.

[18] Dan Schafer, pastor of Calvary Assembly of God in Hightstown, New Jersey, began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation.

Next, Mercury recording artist Jessie James performed the national anthem, and Marke Dickinson, senior vice president of AAA Mid-Atlantic, gave the command for drivers to start their engines.

One lap later, Juan Pablo Montoya moved into fourth, as Ryan Newman emerged in twelfth.

When the drivers made pit stops, Allmendinger remained the leader, but Johnson lost three positions, falling to fifth.

Kevin Harvick went to pit road under the caution, in which afterward his rear tire changer fell and hurt his wrist.

Stewart, who chose only two tire changes on his first pit stop, had fallen to twentieth after eighty laps.

Ten laps later, Johnson reclaimed the lead after Allmendinger fell to 27th while making a pit stop.

On lap 186, the third caution was given when Matt Kenseth gathered damage from a flat tire because of missing the entrance of pit road.

Three laps later, Paul Menard moved into the seventh position while Kurt Busch challenged Jeff Burton for fourth.

On lap 371, McMurray moved into eleventh after Sam Hornish Jr.'s car ignited on pit road.

Jeff Burton finished second, ahead of Joey Logano in third and Kurt Busch in fourth.

So we had to make some pretty significant changes, and when it came time to qualify, we had to put a setup under there that Jimmie hadn’t felt yet.

[20] Next, Jeff Burton, who finished second, said: "We thought we had a really good car coming into the race today.

[22] Johnson stood in second, thirty five points behind Hamlin, and ten ahead of Kyle Busch.

[22] Kevin Harvick was fifth, as Carl Edwards, Burton, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, and Tony Stewart followed in the top-ten positions.

[22] The final two positions available in the Chase for the Sprint Cup was occupied with Matt Kenseth in eleventh and Clint Bowyer in twelfth.