Now fuel mileage began to come into the equation with all the leaders, Gordon included, saying that they were low on fuel. Johnson, who had recovered to sixth, actually ran out of fuel and had to pit for a top up while Gordon, third placed Busch and fifth placed Carl Edwards took to running on the apron behind the safety car.
The entire grandstand held its breath when the green flag waved but everybody came up to speed without incident as Gordon pulled away slightly. With everyone expecting Gordon's car to splutter again the final climactic lap drew no more drama with Gordon just holding off Bowyer and Busch just holding off Jeff Burton for third. Edwards rounded out the top five in the leading Ford while Dave Blaney earned his second straight top ten finish with sixth place in the #22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota.
Stewart recovered from a pair of pair toad incidents to salvage seventh place for Joe Gibbs Racing while Kasey Kahne, one of the drivers Stewart hit during the lap 189 pit road melee, also recovered to eighth. David Stremme and Michael Waltrip rounded out the top ten with the returning Ricky Rudd claiming a very welcome eleventh place.
Johnson's late stop relegated him to 14th while AJ Allmendinger claimed his career best finish with a 15th place run in the only
Red Bull Toyota to qualify. Martin Truex Jr took 17th place with Dale Earnhardt Jr 19th after he slapped the wall. Denny Hamlin finished the race stuck in fourth gear in 20th place with Coca Cola 600 winner Casey Mears one lap down in 21st after a collision with Bill Elliott.
Kurt Busch finished two laps down in 26th after he hit Mark Martin on pit road, slapped the turn four wall and then lapsed onto seven cylinders while his Penske teammate Newman was a disconsolate 28th after his late crash. Harvick took 33rd place, three laps adrift with Kenseth the first of the ‘walking wounded' some 50 laps down to Gordon in 34th place.
![Jeff Gordon - DuPont Chevrolet [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/292500.jpg)
