Kyle Busch continued to lead as the sun starting to set behind the grandstands although he was prevented from opening a big lead at first by David Stremme's puncture, which turned the #40 Ganassi Dodge sideways into Kyle Petty and Bill Elliott and then by David Gilliland and Reed Sorenson engaging in a bit of synchronised spinning that left Sorenson's car crumpled against the inside wall coming off turn two.
However when the race finally settled down again Busch was able to stretch his legs once more, opening a three second lead over Ryan Newman and the rest as the second round of green flag pitstops approached. Busch conceded the lead on lap 190 and had to wait until lap 205 to get the lead back as Ricky Rudd, enjoying one of his best runs of the year, used some alternate pit strategy to stay at the head of the pack for nearly a dozen laps.
During the pitstop cycle Denny Hamlin began to emerge as a potential threat and when Rudd finally pitted Hamlin found himself in second spot and closing on the leader quickly. On lap 208 Hamlin swept by despite some fierce defence from Busch but just four laps later the yellows were out again for AJ Allmendinger's third and final trip into the concrete, bringing the field to pit road once again.
Hamlin emerged in front but now had Matt Kenseth on his tail and a blistering restart saw the #17 Roush-Fenway Ford take the lead on lap 216. Two laps later the pace car was out again for the most significant crash of the day as Casey Mears tapped defending Dickies 500 winner Tony Stewart into a spin in heavy traffic. Chase contenders Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch missed the spinning cars by inches but Gilliland, Dale Jarrett and David Ragan all piled in to Mears' car leaving Stewart fairly unscathed.
![Jimmie Johnson - Kobalt/Lowe's Chevrolet [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/300249.jpg)
