Jeff Gordon was the only driver capable of hanging with the younger Busch brother and Hamlin as the race headed towards the 100-lap mark at record pace although everyone was given a break when NASCAR spotted some debris on the back straight on lap 80 and threw the opening caution period of the afternoon.
The first yellow flag saw everyone except Reed Sorenson and Kurt Busch pit for fresh tyres but while Sorenson was quickly swamped Busch was able to keep his #2 Miller Lite Dodge at the head of the pack until the inevitable happened and his younger brother barged his way back to the front.
Although the intensity of the racing moved up a gear as the race reached half way, including a frightening moment when Dale Earnhardt Jr pulled out in front of Kurt Busch as they headed down the back straight sending Busch scrambling through the infield grass, the field soon settled back down to single file racing.
While Busch paced the majority of the laps he was now coming under a more sustained assault from the Roush-Fenway camp and in particular Greg Biffle, David Ragan and Matt Kenseth. Another round of green flag stops with 80 laps to go thinned the front pack out leaving Busch to fend off Biffle, Earnhardt Jr and Clint Bowyer but just as it seemed as though the race may run without another caution period, more debris was spotted in turn two, bringing the yellow flags out for the second time on lap 150.
Bunching the field with 50 laps to go virtually guaranteed a recipe for disaster but one driver destined not to play a part in proceedings was Jeff Gordon, whose #24 Hendrick team discovered a broken component in the suspension set-up during the yellow flag pitstops, forcing them to the garage for repairs.
![New Penske teammates Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch confer with crew-chief Roy McCauley in the Vegas garage. [Pic Credit Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/192834.jpg)
