The second caution period of what was a warm, sunny afternoon in the Arizona desert brought the next round of stops and for the first time so far the lead changed hands as Truex Jr's crew got their man out just in front of Edwards. Edwards fought back quickly though and the two exchanged the lead several times before, quite unexpectedly Edwards brought the #99 Ford onto pit road with potential engine bothers. A quick inspection under the hood confirmed the worse and the driver who led the first 87 laps of the race was suddenly heading to the garage.
Truex Jr wasn't allowed to stretch his new found advantage thanks to a plethora of caution periods including a hard crash into the inside wall off the turn two dog-leg for Dale Earnhardt Jr on lap 119 and a similar impact into the outside wall for Jacques Villeneuve on lap 137 after contact with Kasey Kahne. The demise of the former Indy 500 winner and
F1 World Champion prompted most of the leaders onto pit road for the third time with Truex Jr emerging ninth behind the line of who chose to stay out.
Having suffered damage in his clash with Villeneuve Kahne then slapped the turn four wall hard on lap 147 to bring out the seventh caution of the afternoon but after the green flag waved again on lap 154 the race finally settled down again with Matt Kenseth, who inherited the lead when Truex Jr pitted, now pacing the field.
Kenseth soon started stretching his lead, mindful of the fact that he would have to pit for fuel and tyres long before the majority of others. Jeff Gordon was another driver in the same boat as Kenseth and he moved into second place while Johnson, who had stayed on the same strategy as the majority, ran in tenth place but was soon moving up.
![Jimmie Johnson - Kobalt/Lowe's Chevrolet [pic credit: GM media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/300233.jpg)
