In fact Johnson quickly assumed the ‘Jeff Gordon’ role as he sped away from the field and quickly opened a comfortable lead as Kyle Busch manoeuvred past Gordon for second. Those expecting Busch to devour Johnson’s lead had their hopes dashed on lap 110 however when Busch’s spectacular style got him a little too close to the outside wall in turn two, scraping the SAFER barrier hard enough to send his car to the tight side.
Busch maintained second place through the first round of green flag pitstops but Johnson was able to stretch his lead to more than five seconds as the race entered its final 250 miles. A caution period, the first of the day, on lap 135 sent everyone scuttling to pit road for fresh tyres and thanks to quick pit work from his Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew Busch was able to squeeze out ahead of Johnson. Busch was even able to stay ahead of Johnson when racing resumed but when the caution flag came out again on lap 150 for Michael Waltrip’s spin Ryan Newman’s team gambled on taking two fresh tyres while Busch chose four. Busch would take the restart in fourth place and would not be able to fight his way back out to the lead.
Newman’s lead didn’t last long either as double defending Auto Club 500 Matt Kenseth began to show his hand. However his lead would also be short-lived as Johnson retook top spot on lap 158. Like Kenseth and Newman before him Johnson was also not destined to spend a long time at the head of the field as on lap 160 Edwards powered past in his #99 Roush-Fenway Ford.
As the green flag run progressed Edwards’ car grew and grew in strength with the driver nicknamed ‘Cousin Carl’ by the Fox TV commentary team opening a mammoth nine-second advantage over Johnson and Gordon as the race reached the 200-lap mark.
![Carl Edwards, Roush-Fenway Ford [Pic Credit Ford Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/405819.jpg)
