Contested over 98 laps of 160, it was the twenty-first race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

[5][6] The race was marred by a lightning strike which killed a spectator and injured nine others as Gordon was on his way to victory lane.

[10] Before the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the Drivers' Championship with 731 points, and Matt Kenseth stood in second with 717.

Kevin Harvick with 653 was even with Martin Truex Jr., as Tony Stewart with 652 points, was three ahead of Brad Keselowski, and nine in front of Clint Bowyer.

[16] Jamie McMurray, Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, and Johnson completed the first ten positions.

[17] Juan Pablo Montoya clinched his eighth pole position of his career,[18] with a time of 51.124 seconds.

[19] Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman and Johnson rounded out the top ten.

[19] Once the qualifying session had concluded, Montoya stated, "I know (Sunday) is going to be a reality check that we've still got to work on it a lot.

Kasey Kahne came in second, and his contentions in the race were dashed in pit road during the final caution,[21] when he ran over an air hose and had a flat right-rear tire.

"[26]The victim, 41-year-old Brian Zimmerman from Moosic, Pennsylvania, was standing next to his car at the track's parking lot behind the Turn 3 grandstand.

[29] On August 5, 2014, Zimmerman's wife sued NASCAR, seeking damages for negligence and wrongful death.

[31][32] As a result, ACCUS-FIA, the governing body on motorsport in the United States that consists of the major motorsport sanctioning bodies (NASCAR, INDYCAR, IMSA, NHRA, SCCA, USAC, WKA), has adopted rules on lightning consistent with other sporting events.

If, at any time, weather radar detects lightning inside a 13 kilometer (eight mile) radius of the venue, spectator warnings are immediately delivered to clear the grandstands by public address system and video boards at the circuit.

The safety car is deployed and leads the field to pit lane, with an immediate red flag.