With a finish eerily similar to Talladega's Aaron's 499, one driver tried to block on the way to the checkered flag and another was not intimidated. Kyle Busch ran a cautious race until the end, but no one can play it safe with the checkered flag in the air. So, he passed Tony Stewart on the white flag lap and tried to make his Toyota as wide as possible on the front stretch. Clipping Stewart's nose and spinning into the wall, he experienced one of the more dramatic crashes his season, but Busch managed to skid past the finish line. The ensuing pileup was impressive, but since most of the contact occurred after the finish line, the results were largely unaffected by the last-lap catastrophe.
Stewart won his second race of the season and now has a six-race streak of finishes seventh or better. He's a place-and-hold driver until further notice.
Jimmie Johnson was second, which was a bit of a surprise given his bad luck on plate tracks recently and the rest of the top five went to drivers who needed strong runs to reverse their fortune as well. Denny Hamlin was third, Carl Edwards finished fourth and Kurt Busch came home fifth.
Marcos Ambrose in sixth and Juan Montoya in ninth were the best dark horses of the weekend, and both of them should be able to carry that momentum on to Chicago next week.
Results with average finish
Finish | Start | Driver | Laps | Laps Led | Status | Avg. Fin |
1 | 1 | Tony Stewart | 160 | 86 | Running | 16.50 |
2 | 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 160 | Running | 14.19 | |
3 | 6 | Denny Hamlin | 160 | 63 | Running | 23.75 |
4 | 5 | Carl Edwards | 160 | Running | 19.70 | |
5 | 4 | Kurt Busch | 160 | 1 | Running | 17.17 |
6 | 18 | Marcos Ambrose | 160 | Running | 11.50 | |
7 | 17 | Brian Vickers | 160 | Running w/ crash damage | 20.09 | |
8 | 10 | Matt Kenseth | 160 | 3 | Running | 17.90 |
9 | 12 | Juan Montoya | 160 | Running | 24.00 | |
10 | 23 | Elliott Sadler | 160 | Running | 17.00 | |
11 | 22 | Jamie McMurray | 160 | Running w/ crash damage | 25.57 | |
12 | 43 | Regan Smith | 160 | Running | 23.50 | |
13 | 31 | David Ragan | 160 | Running | 13.83 | |
14 | 8 | Kyle Busch | 160 | 1 | Running | 18.00 |
15 | 13 | Kasey Kahne | 160 | Running w/ crash damage | 17.83 | |
16 | 16 | Jeff Burton | 160 | 2 | Running | 17.75 |
17 | 30 | A J Allmendinger | 160 | Running | 20.67 | |
18 | 9 | Greg Biffle | 160 | Running | 22.14 | |
19 | 21 | Joey Logano | 160 | Running | 31.00 | |
20 | 7 | Ryan Newman | 160 | 1 | Running w/ crash damage | 20.94 |
21 | 28 | Bobby Labonte | 160 | Running | 22.44 | |
22 | 34 | Robby Gordon | 160 | 1 | Running | 20.30 |
23 | 33 | Paul Menard | 160 | Running | 23.80 | |
24 | 36 | Brad Keselowski | 160 | Running w/ crash damage | 24.00 | |
25 | 24 | Martin Truex Jr | 160 | Running | 21.56 | |
26 | 27 | Kevin Harvick | 160 | Running w/ crash damage | 15.71 | |
27 | 35 | John Andretti | 160 | 1 | Running | 27.35 |
28 | 2 | Jeff Gordon | 160 | 1 | Running w/ crash damage | 15.50 |
29 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | 159 | Running w/ crash damage | 13.38 | |
30 | 42 | Tony Raines | 158 | Running | 31.20 | |
31 | 37 | Scott Speed | 152 | Accident | 33.00 | |
32 | 25 | Sam Hornish Jr | 152 | Running | 27.00 | |
33 | 26 | Reed Sorenson | 146 | Running w/ crash damage | 23.38 | |
34 | 20 | Casey Mears | 144 | Running | 22.29 | |
35 | 32 | David Stremme | 129 | Running w/ crash damage | 24.17 | |
36 | 14 | David Reutimann | 127 | Running w/ crash damage | 25.50 | |
37 | 29 | Michael Waltrip | 124 | Running w/ crash damage | 20.80 | |
38 | 11 | Mark Martin | 79 | Running | 18.14 | |
39 | 19 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | 76 | Accident | 15.55 | |
40 | 38 | David Gilliland | 76 | Accident | 25.40 | |
41 | 39 | Joe Nemechek | 25 | Start and Park | 26.13 | |
42 | 41 | Patrick Carpentier | 18 | Start and Park | 28.00 | |
43 | 40 | Dave Blaney | 2 | Start and Park | 26.47 |
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