Johnson first worked his way to the lead under green flag conditions on lap 17 and was back in front by lap 47 despite losing a bunch of places during the first round of stops. Johnson's largely conservative four-tyre pit strategies would see the lead sway back and forth for much of the first half of the race although both Roush-Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth and Penske's Kurt Busch were able to show that they were a force to be reckoned with.
With a near constant stream of yellow flags giving the race a disjointed feeling Johnson, Busch and Kenseth traded the lead almost exclusively between them before Clint Bowyer was able to use the strategy card to push the #07 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet into top spot during the sixth caution of the race for Robby Gordon's crash on lap 140.
Keeping the same set of tyres for nearly 100 laps Bowyer was able to stay in, or around, top spot throughout the mid portion of the race despite the constant threat from Johnson and Busch. Kenseth's night however went sour in a hurry with first an alternator problem and then the first of no less than three crashes conspiring to put him out of the victory hunt before half distance.
Kenseth's second trip into the wall coincided with Gordon's first ascension into the lead and while Kenseth's third and final crash resulted in Gordon losing the lead back to Bowyer on lap 222 Gordon's pace would mean that he was soon back on the leaders tail.
The race took another twist on lap 230 when Johnson most uncharacteristically spun without help coming off turn two and smacked the outside wall, putting the defending series champion on the lengthening list of Chase contenders who had hit trouble so far.
Johnson was able to continue on the lead lap but was now down in 29th place, in the company of Busch and Tony Stewart who had both sustained drama in separate accidents on pit road itself. Kenseth was by now getting repairs in the garage area while Bowyer's teammate Kevin Harvick was toiling three laps off the pace after two green flag pitstops to cure a puncture.
