Contested over 400 laps on the 1–mile (1.6 km) oval, it was the thirteenth race of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series championship.

Tony Stewart won the race, his first win of the season, snapping a 30–race winless streak, while Juan Pablo Montoya finished second.

Dover International Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 1 mile (1.6 km) long.

[8] During the first practice session, Johnson was quickest with a time of 22.556, ahead of his team-mate Kahne and Kyle Busch in second and third.

[10] Denny Hamlin clinched his third pole position of the season, with a lap time of 22.788 seconds.

"[12] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Truex Jr.[11] Kyle Busch qualified third, Kenseth took fourth, and Ryan Newman started fifth.

[11] Mark Martin, Harvick, Keselowski, Joey Logano, and McMurray completed the first ten positions on the grid.

[11] In the Saturday morning session, Kenseth was quickest, ahead of Kahne and Keselowski in second and third.

[13] Hamlin, Edwards, Bowyer, Johnson, and Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out ten quickest drivers in the session.

[13] In the final practice session for the race, Kurt Busch was quickest with a time of 23.495 seconds.

[16][17] Shortly after lap 30, Danica Patrick was forced to make a green-flag pit stop after contact with David Stremme.

[15][17] This wreck brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 301, in which Hamlin would lead at the restart following different pit strategies.

Hamlin continued to maintain the lead until another caution was brought out on lap 318 from a spin by Kasey Kahne in turn 2.

[15][16] Following the race, Keselowski's car failed post-race inspection because the car's front end was too low to the ground, resulting in a six-point penalty for Keselowski and a $25,000 fine for his crew chief Paul Wolfe, who had returned for the first time after a three-week suspension for infractions in the 2013 NRA 500.

An official from Penske Racing said that the infraction was caused by a part failure, but the team is not expected to appeal the penalties.