Second place for Kenseth may not have been the result he was looking for but it was still far better than last year's final result when Jeff Gordon spun him out of the lead in the closing laps and the 2003 series champion was followed hoe by his Roush teammate Carl Edwards.
Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick finished fourth after leading more than 50 laps earlier in the race while polesitter Casey Mears hung around in the top ten all day and was eventually rewarded with fifth position with Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, defending Chicagoland winner Gordon and Clint Bowyer rounding out the top ten.
Mark Martin recovered from having to start from the back of the grid in his back-up car to finish 14th for Ginn Racing while Dale Earnhardt Jr looked odds on for a top ten finish at least until he lost his power steering with 50 laps to go and slipped to 19th.
After the first 150 laps were slowed by just one caution, six caution flags in the final 110 laps slowed the event considerably and knocked several potential contenders out of the action. In addition to Johnson, who was classified 37th, Dave Blaney blew a tyre and took Ward Burton out in a hard crash while last week's winner Jamie McMurray also blew a tyre and smacked the wall. Martin Truex Jr also looked like a top ten contender until he lost a cylinder on lap 210 and was classified 39th.
Next weekend the series enjoys its last weekend off before the end of the season with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next on the agenda.
![Tony Stewart - Home Depot Chevrolet [pic credit: GM media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/289125.jpg)
