Kasey Kahne's lurid spin off turn four brought out caution flag number three on lap 115 and allowed Kenseth to regain his place on the lead lap following his torrid start to the day from 43rd and last position on the grid. Busch's continued his imperious progress at the front of the field as Earnhardt Jr began to struggle with Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer taking up the chase in second and third places.
The race entered its final 250 miles in the midst of the longest green flag run of the day with Busch, as he has done almost every time he has stepped behind the wheel of a Cup car this year, simply drove away from the field in his own spectacular style. Even with the tyre complaints Busch was visibly manhandling his car through every corner with the traditional end of corner slide timed almost to perfection and while there was one brief frisson with the SAFER barriers on the entrance to turn one Busch had nothing to worry about until Bowyer got into his groove and passed him for the lead on lap 151.
Bowyer paced the field through the only round of green flag pitstops of the day and maintained an ample four second lead over Busch until the yellow flags were out again on lap 198 for yet more debris. During his time out front Bowyer performed a rare feat as he put defending Atlanta race winner Jimmie Johnson one lap down but with Kyle Busch running second and quickly gaining a reputation as the master of the restart, Bowyer knew that his time at the front was numbered.
And so it proved on lap 203 when Busch took less than two corners to sweep around the outside of the #07 Chevrolet to retake the top spot. Bowyer soon lost second place as well to the #99 Ford of Edwards, who was slowly coming into his own in a race both he and his Roush-Fenway team desperately wanted to win. Edwards closed the gap to Busch until the two started lap 215 side by side but before Edwards had the chance to seal the deal the yellow flags were out for the first of Elliott Sadler's three spins in the #19 Gillett-Evernham Motorsports Dodge.
![Dale Earnhardt Jr signs autographs for the fans. [Pic Credit image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/405537.jpg)
