Avenue Vine

Pole-sitter Kasey Kahne took the lead at the start, getting away cleanly ahead of Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon. But Labonte spun by himself in Turn 11 on Lap 2 and he fell back to 30th place. On Lap 4, Kahne began complaining of clutch problems and he would soon free-fall through the field.

Johnson took the lead for the first time on Lap 5, outbraking Kahne and going underneath him in Turn 11. Kahne lost second place to Kurt Busch on Lap 8 and then third to Robby Gordon at the end of the lap.

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After 10 of 110 laps, Johnson led Kurt Busch by 2.660 seconds. Robby Gordon was third, 3.802 seconds in arrears, followed by JeffGordon and Kahne. By Lap 20, Johnson stretched his lead to a whopping 5.174 seconds over Kurt Busch, with Carl Edwards up to third ahead of Robby Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya and Greg Biffle.

Edwards took second on Lap 23 and set out after Johnson, who to that point had been the class of the field by a wide margin. Jeff Gordon, meanwhile, was falling back quickly, losing positions with regularity.

On Lap 27, Greg Biffle was the first of the lead-lap cars to pit, as Edwards began to close the gap on Johnson, cutting the lead to 2.848 seconds. The following lap, Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton pitted for the first time.

At the 31-lap mark, the yellow flag came out for the first time, as Joe Nemechek spun between turns 11 and 12 and David Ragan made contact.

Because about one-third of the field had just pitted, the order was substantially juggled on the ensuing round of pit stops, as those cars stayed out and took over the front of the field. Biffle assumed the lead, ahead of Montoya, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Burton, Harvick, David Gilliland, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex, Jr. and Casey Mears.

But when the track went green on Lap 33, Biffle spun in Turn 1, surrendering the lead to Kyle Busch, Montoya and McMurray. The top three stayed that way, as on Lap 40, Busch led Montoya by 2.267 seconds, with McMurray third, ahead of Burton, Gilliland and Stewart.

By Lap 50, the only change among the leaders came at fifth place, which Stewart took from Gilliland. Kyle Busch’s lead at this point was 3.584 seconds over Montoya and 5.928 seconds over McMurray.

On Lap 52, Hamlin spun by himself in Turn 11, but the track stayed green and he fell all the way back from 17th to 32nd place.

At Lap 55, the halfway point of the event, Busch led Montoya by 2.740 seconds. Then it was McMurray, Stewart, Burton, Edwards, Gilliland, Harvick, Robby Gordon and Marcos Ambrose. Ten laps later, Busch had extended the margin to 4.140 seconds.

On Lap 68, Harvick and Burton began the round of green-flag pit stops, along with Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. Burton got a pass-thru penalty for being too fast exiting pit road.

One lap later, Dale Earnhardt pitted, along with Hamlin and Biffle. Next time around, Kyle Busch, McMurray and Montoya led a bunch of cars in, with Stewart stalling in his pit briefly.

Then, the second caution flew on Lap 71 after Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon and Max Papis collided in Turn 2. For the drivers who hadn’t made their second stops yet — let by Edwards, Newman and Johnson — the caution killed their track position.

Robby Gordon stalled on put road, and after the round of stops were complete, the order was Busch, Montoya, McMurray, Ambrose, Gilliland, Stewart, Harvick, Ron Fellows, Elliott Sadler, Casey Mears, Jeff Gordon, Bowyer, Earnhardt, Burton, Kenseth and Edwards.

The track went green again on Lap 75, and contract from Ambrose sent Montoya spinning from second place in Turn 11, bringing out Caution No. 3. That left the order Busch, Ambrose, McMurray, Stewart, Gilliland, Harvick, Fellows, Sadler, Mears and Gordon. Montoya, meanwhile, fell to 15th.

The green came out on Lap 78 and Ambrose made a bad restart, allowing McMurray to take second place. Gilliland muscled by Stewart, taking over fourth place in his best run of the season.

Ambrose continued to fall back, and after 80 laps Busch led McMurray by 1.588 seconds, with Gilliland third, then Stewart, Ambrose, Sadler, Harvick, Fellows, Gordon and Mears. Things went from bad to worse for Ambrose, who was hit by Sadler and spun in Turn 7 on Lap 84, falling to 26th as the caution did not come out. With his car smoking heavily, Ambrose pitted, out of the race with a broken gearbox.

With 20 laps to go, Busch stretched his margin, to 2.850 seconds over McMurray, Gilliland, Stewart, Harvick, Fellows, Sadler, Gordon, Mears and Bowyer.

On Lap 103, the caution came out after David Reutimann had a flat tire and nosed his Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota into a tire barrier. That bunched up the field for a restart on Lap 105, with Busch leading McMurray, Stewart, Gilliland, Harvick, Fellows, Jeff Gordon, Sadler, Bowyer and Mears.

Busch made a great restart, but behind him all hell broke loose in Turn 4, as Harvick, McMurray and Stewart all spun out in a synchronized maneuver. Harvick first hit McMurray, who in turn hit Stewart and the three all went around.

That made the order Busch, Gilliland, Gordon, Sadler, Bowyer, Mears, Montoya, Newman, Earnhardt and Edwards.

The green flew on Lap 107, but the yellow came out again on Lap 109, after Stewart drilled Scott Pruett. That set up a green-white-checkered finish, with NASCAR stopping the field for a 12-minute, 34-second red flag to clean up fluid spilled by Pruett’s car. The top 10 remained the same, except for 10th, where Matt Kenseth moved ahead of his teammate Carl Edwards.

The final green waived to start Lap 111, with Busch breaking away cleanly to take the victory.

Tom Jensen Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEED, former Executive Editor of NASCAR, Sonoma, CA–June 22, 2008