From seventh on the grid Johnson was able to work his way to the front on lap 30 with the #48 Hendrick Chevrolet looking rooted to the low groove around the dog-leg shaped oval but his initial lead wasn't to last long as Matt Kenseth smacked the wall on lap 40 to bring out the caution flags and sent everyone scurrying to the pits for their first stops. Newman and Edwards both beat Johnson back to the track but less than ten laps after the restart Johnson was back in front as the polesitter's day began to go downhill.
Johnson and Edwards continued to pace the field as the 100-lap mark passed and green flag pitstops approached. It was then that the race threw its first real curveball when, on lap 113 Joe Nemechek hit the turn one wall to bring out the yellows, just one lap after Edwards and a number of other contenders had made their pitstops under green.
To compound Edwards' misery NASCAR also decreed that his pit crew had jumped off the pit wall earlier than they were allowed to and further penalised the driver of the #99 Roush-Fenway Ford. As a result when the green flag waved again Edwards found himself a lap down and in 38th position.
Johnson now had to contend with his Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr and the two traded the lead several times before Newman's day finally reached its nadir when he blew his engine in heavy traffic, causing a chain reaction crash behind as Reed Sorenson and the luckless Kenseth came together, cannoning JJ Yeley into the wall and back into the path of series returnee Johnny Sauter. Points leader Jeff Burton also spun but, unlike the others, emerged without suffering any damage. Newman's day was done though and, with a line of oil going all the way around the track, NASCAR threw the red flag.
![Jimmie Johnson - Lowe's Chevrolet [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/303463.jpg)
