Bowyer's teammate, Kevin Harvick, finished in second, while Juan Pablo Montoya clinched third.

Some of the Chase for the Sprint Cup participants, such as, Jeff Gordon stayed in the rear almost all race, but with about twenty laps remaining, he and his teammate Jimmie Johnson moved to first and second.

After the final caution, Bowyer led on the restart, but Harvick passed him with one lap remaining.

[12] During the first practice session, Hamlin, for the Joe Gibbs Racing team, was quickest ahead of Kyle Busch in second and McMurray in third.

[13] Marcos Ambrose, Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola, Mark Martin, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.

[13] Afterward, during the second and final practice session, Martin was quickest with a lap time of 48.409.

[14] Kenseth was scored seventh, Stewart took eighth, David Ragan was ninth, and Robby Gordon was tenth.

[15] Juan Pablo Montoya clinched his fifth pole position in the Sprint Cup Series, with a time of 51.863.

[16] The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Johnny Sauter, Travis Kvapil, and Landon Cassill.

"[2] The race, the thirty-third 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.

[17] Randy Norris, from Alabama Raceway Ministries, began the pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation.

Average Joe's Entertainment recording artist Josh Gracin then performed the national anthem, and the AMP Energy grand marshal winners gave the command for drivers to start their engines.

On the following lap, Nemechek dropped to the back of the grid, as Harvick edged Earnhardt for the lead.

Earnhardt became the leader on the third lap, while Bowyer was scored second on the lower line of cars.

With the draft, Brad Keselowski became the leader, before he was passed by Sam Hornish Jr. during the tenth lap.

On the following lap, the first caution was given, after Allmendinger temporarily lost control of his car, causing him to spin out.

All but four of the front runners made pit stops during the caution, with most teams changing two or four tires.

Following the pit stops, Kenseth moved to first, ahead of Harvick, Biffle, Paul Menard, and Hamlin.

On lap 86, Chad McCumbee drove to pit road, as Montoya continued to lead.

Burton used the draft to move Earnhardt past Montoya for the head of the grid six laps later.

Afterward, there were three lead changes in the next three laps, beginning with Harvick's teammate Bowyer, followed by Montoya and Earnhardt.

Both drove to the garage for repairs, but Burton said that his car was too severely damaged to return to the race.

On lap 144, Hornish was given a drive-through penalty for excessive speed on pit road, causing him to give Logano the first position.

On lap 164, McMurray drove to pit road, as Busch and Hamlin remained in the first two positions.

With nine laps remaining, Bowyer passed Johnson for the head of the grid, as Gordon continued to lose positions.

On lap 187, Harvick claimed the lead, as the sixth caution was given for a multi-car incident in which Allmendinger turned on his roof and collided with the wall.

Truex finished sixth, Johnson claimed seventh, and Jeff Gordon was scored eighth.

I turned (Marcos Ambrose) around and got into my teammate (Harvick) and I was sick about that but here he came at the end of the race," said Bowyer of his triumph.

When two cars hook up, they just drive off from them and they [Harvick and Reutimann] were coming on the outside and ran us down, and then I quit dragging my brakes and we kind of took off again.

Johnson, who finished seventh, was optimistic as he left the race leading the point standings: "It's going to be an awesome championship battle all the way to Homestead, and I'm really looking forward to it.