Busch, who slid across the finish line in 14th place, climbed from his wrecked car at the end of the tri-oval and began walking down pit road as Stewart completed his cool-down lap and entered pit road from the opposite end. NASCAR officials restrained Busch and prompted him toward a truck that transported him to the infield care centre, where he was examined and released.

Busch declined comment to the media after the race.

Were it not for trouble to most of the Chase “bubble” drivers, Mark Martin's postseason aspirations might have suffered a significant setback, thanks to a wreck on lap 13 that relegated him to a 38th-place finish and dropped him two spots in the standings to 13th. The top twelve qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

As Martin exited turn two, Matt Kenseth gained momentum to the outside, and Martin's Chevy wasn't clear of Kenseth's Ford when Martin moved up the track. Martin's car spun into the infield and sustained serious damage.

“Matt ran the top side there and got a run up off the corner, and I was just trying to keep it down and leave us room, and I just pinched him,” Martin said. “Front wheels were cut, and it just didn't turn quite enough. My fault.”

Martin's wreck was nothing, however, compared with the 13-car pileup on lap 77 that eliminated Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Contact between the Dodges of Kasey Kahne and David Stremme triggered the wreck, but the cars of Earnhardt and David Reutimann perhaps were the most severely damaged, as Reutimann slid up the track into Earnhardt's path.

“A couple of guys got together, and I just tried to stay high, and the #00 (Reutimann) was crossed up, and we got together with him pretty hard and tore the upper A-frame off the chassis,” said Earnhardt, who finished 39th.

Reutimann entered the race 14th in the standings, twelve points out of twelfth. He finished 36th Saturday, and although still 14th, he is now 74 points behind Kasey Kahne, who moved up a spot to twelfth with a 15th-place finish.

Jeff Gordon was another victim of the lap 77 wreck but was able to continue. Though his car was damaged too severely to contend for the win, Gordon stayed on the lead lap and finished 28th, just enough to maintain second place in points, 180 behind Stewart and 14 ahead of Johnson in third.

by Reid Spencer/Sporting News