Greg Biffle stayed out on a early on lap 165 to take the lead. By lap 174, Biffle’s tires began to fade, as did he. He dropped from first to seventh by lap 208. The strategy ended up backfiring, as Biffle lost a lap when he pitted.  Biffle remained a lap down until lap 485, when he got the free pass after David Gilliland got into the wall following contact with David Reutimann. He finished 12th.

Jeff Burton was shaping up to have a quiet day, running in the teens for most of the race.
On lap 457, Reed Sorenson spun and hit the wall. Burton pitted under caution and had some issues on pit road. Jeff Gordon was exiting his pit box when Burton was about to enter his. He couldn’t turn in without making contact with Gordon, so he let Gordon by him. He turned into his pit box, but his splitter was outside the box when the crew began changing right-side tires. He was held one lap for pitting outside his box. Burton finished 17th, one lap down.

Carl Edwards had a strong car, running near the front all day. He managed to stay out of trouble and have an uneventful day. He finished third.

Clint Bowyer also had a decent car and stayed out of trouble. He posted a solid ninth place finish.

Kevin Harvick, much like teammate Clint Bowyer, had a quiet and uneventful day at Martinsville. He posted a very quiet seventh place finish.

Jeff Gordon had a strong car. He was one of the few drivers that was able to drive around his teammate Jimme Johnson for the lead. He did so on three occasions, on lap 35, lap 242, and lap 272. He finished fourth.

Tony Stewart had a decent car early, running near the front for the early portion of the race. But, on lap 361, Stewart had a right front tire go down. Fortunately, he was able to make it to pit road without any major problems. He lost two laps during his stop. On lap 453, he returned to put road under green for another flat right front tire. He finished 26th, four laps down.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a solid car and started near the front due to rain washing out qualifying. An early pit road speeding penalty sent him to the tail end of the longest line. He restarted in 37th on lap 34. By lap 75, he was up to fifth. On lap 81, he got into Jamie McMurray, sending McMurray spinning. In th late stages of the race, Jr had the strongest car, but by that time teammate  Jimmie Johnson had too big of a lead to overcome. On the final two restarts, Jr did not have enough to get it done. He finished second.

Matt Kenseth stayed out of trouble until lap 114, when he got together with Joe Nemechek to bring out a caution. He lost a lap as a result of the crash. He got his lap back when Elliott Sadler and Aric Almirola got together on lap 196 and brought out the caution. On lap 462, he used strategy of staying out when the leaders pitted under caution to inherit the lead. He began falling back after the restart. He made contact with teammate David Ragan bringing out the final caution, setting up the green-white-checker finish. He finished eigth.

Denny Hamlin managed the avoid the tire problems that plagued teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch. He ran near the front most, if not all of the day. While he never led, he managed to post a solid fifth place finish.

Kyle Busch‘s Chase problems continued to unfold with another lackluster day. By lap 98, Busch was complaining of brake issues. On lap 161, he hit the wall after his right front tire blew. He stopped on track to bring out the caution NASCAR penalized him two laps. On lap 346, he lost another right front tire. He made it to pit road. On lap 457, another right front tire lost and another trip to pit road. He finished 29th, seven laps down.

Jeff Burton ran in the top 10 in the early stages of the race, making his way up to third by lap 48. He took the lead for the first time on lap 255 when Greg Biffle made a scheduled pit stop. On lap 264 Robby Gordon crashed. On the restart, Burton was running second to teammate Greg Biffle. On lap 277, he took the lead on the outside. On the next restart, he battled Jimmie Johnson side-by-side for two laps. He built up a half-second lead in the next eight laps. Eleven laps later, his lead was over a second. He won the race by a comfortable margin of 0.700 seconds over Kasey Kahne.

Greg Biffle spent much of the race in the top 5, taking over the top spot for the first time on lap 250. He lost the lead when he made a scheduled pit stop on lap 255, but he regained the lead on lap 267. Burton passed him for the lead after a restart in lap 277. On the final restart on lap 301, Biffle ran fifth. In the closing laps, he was passed by Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray. He finished seventh.

Carl Edwards started the day second. He ran the early part of the race in the top 5. On lap 51, however, he reported a vibration. One lap later, he dove onto  pit road because he had a loose wheel. While he was on pit road, a caution came out after AJ Allmendinger spun. He did not beat leader Jimmie Johnson, who was coming to the line, off pit road, so he lost a lap. his crew chief, Bob Osborne, argued that he should get the free pass, but it was awarded to Jeff Gordon instead. On lap 67, things went from bad to worse for Edwards, who had an ignition problem and had to be pushed to pit road because the car would not fire. By lap 84, he returned to the track 16 laps down in 39th. He wound up finishing 33rd.

Clint Bowyer had a relatively quiet day. He ran around the top 5 for the first half of the race, and managed to stay out of trouble. He did, however, get into Denny Hamlin on lap 232 and sent Hamlin up the track. Other than that, Bowyer had a decent race, but ended up finishing 12th.

Kevin Harvick, who was the center of a lot of media attention this week due to his high-profile incident with Carl Edwards, had major issues with the setup of his car. On lap 64, the team gave Harvick eight rounds of wedge. He went virtually unnoticed for the rest of the race, running in the top 10 and teens. He finished 13th.

Tony Stewart made some noise early, taking the lead on lap 32 and again on lap 76. At one point during the race, Stewart had built up a seven second lead. But, his car did not handle that well in traffic. On lap 166, he complained that something might be wrong with the nose of his car, but pit stops were coming up so he was not too worried. On lap 260, Stewart was caught speeding on pit road. He recovered to finish 11th.

Jeff Gordon had trouble early on brushing the wall on lap 1 and hitting it hard on lap 5. On lap 9, he pitted because he has a tire rub. On lap 54, he got the free pass and was back on the lead lap. On lap 203, Gordon recovered, taking the lead from Martin Truex Jr. Both Gordon and Truex stayed out after a crash involving Matt Kenseth, Travis Kvapil, Tony Raines, and Chad McCumbee. Gordon lost the lead on lap 250 when he made a scheduled pit stop. He ran the rest of the race in or near the top 10, finishing eighth.

Kyle Busch had, by far, his best race of the Chase, running up near the front all day. He led lap 104 under caution, due to his pit stall location. He led again at lap 110, taking the top spot from teammate Tony stewart.He lost the lead when he pitted under caution. On lap 260, Busch was caught speeding, like his teammate Tony Stewart. He recovered to finish fourth.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a strong car early, making his way to third around lap 36. He spent most of the early part of the race in the top 10. But, on lap 103, he blew a tire and sustained heavy damage, effectively ending his day. He finished 36th, 45 laps down.

Matt Kenseth had an uneventfuly day until lap 194 when Paul Menard got into Bill Elliott, pushing him into Tony Raines, who hit the wall. As that happened, Travis Kvapil turned down the race track into Kenseth’s right rear quarter panel, sending him into the outside wall. He finished 41st.

Denny Hamlin had a realtively quiet day following his hard crash at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend that put him in the hospital for one night. On lap 232, Clint Bowyer got into the back of him sending him up the track and into the wall. He suffered some right-rear damage. He finished 16th.

Carl Edwards started the race opting for a similar strategy as Johnson, hanging towards the back of the pack. He used some interesting pit strategy, staying out when the leaders pitted to avoid trouble on pit road. Ironically enough, when Edwards did pit with the leaders, he left his pit stall a little too hot and spun out. For much of the race, Edwards drove around the back, barely earning a mention on TV. He was doing exactly what he said, staying out of trouble. On lap 174, Carl Edwards was pushing Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle to the front. As they entered the corner, Edwards was bumping Biffle. Biffle got a little bit loose, and Edwards bumped him again, turning him into teammate Matt Kenseth. Biffle then slid back up the track into Edwards and Earnhardt Jr. Several other cars were collected including Chasers Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.Edwards finished 29th.

Greg Biffle started the day quietly, staying the middle-to-the-back of the pack, keeping himself out of touble. Towards the later stages of the race, Biffle start running towards the front, and showed that he had a car capable of running up front. In the closing laps, Biffle made his move to the front with Edwards pushing him. As Biffle entered the corner, Edwards was bumping him into the lead. As the two got into the middle of corner, Edwards bumped him and sent him spinning into Kenseth, and back up in Edwards and Earnhardt Jr., effectively ending his day. He finished 24th.

Jeff Burton had a realatively quiet day, running in the back, in the middle and up front. He went virtually unnoticed, though he did lead some laps, until the closing laps. He started the green-white-checker in fifth place. He managed to break Aric Almirola from his Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammates Regan Smith and  Paul Menard. However, he could not mount a charge in the closing laps, and he wound up finishing fifth.

Clint Bowyer had a quiet day, much like his teammate Burton. He ran in the middle of the pack, and never led. He did manage to stay out of trouble and turned a mediocre day into a repectable sixth place finish.

Kevin Harvick had a decent car. He too led some laps, like his teammate Burton. He was working from the back of the pack to the front, to the back and to the front again. His day was pretty up and down, as can be expected at ‘Dega for anyone. Then, on lap 164, Harvick made slight contact with someone and spun into the infield grass. He didn’t hit anything and was able to keep going. But, 10 laps later, he was caught up in the melee that was created when Edwards and Biffle got together.

Tony Stewart started the day hanging in the middle to the back of the pack. Then, as the race got closer to half way, Stewart started flexing some muscle and was running up front. At lap 80 he took the lead for the first time. He would hover around the front, waiting to put himself in position to win in the closing laps. A caution brought out by Jamie McMurray on lap 184 sent the race into overtime. Stewart led at the green-white-checker. He had Dale Earnhard Inc.’s Regan Smith, Paul Menard, and Aric Almirola behind him. Those cars were strong and Stewart seemed like a sitting duck. When the green flag flew, the cars stayed single file. Stewart took the white flag, with Smith and Menard behind him, Almirola got shuffled back. On the final turn of the last lap, Smith look outside. Stewart blocked. Smith looked inside, Stewart drove all the way down to the yellow line. Smith drove below the yellow line under him, and passed him to take the checkered flag. But, because the move was deemed illegal, Stewart was declared the winner.

Jeff Gordon had a decent car, moving from the front to the back to the front again. On lap 53, David Reutimann blew a tire. Gordon swerved to avoid him and made contact with Jon Wood, and turned into the outside wall, ending his chances at a win. His team fixed his car and got him back on the track to turn some laps. On lap 183, his engine expired. He finished 38th.

Matt Kenseth drove an unevenful first half of the race. He ran near the front, but was relatively quiet. He lead early, a couple of times. But, his day ended early when Edwards and Biffle made contact, on lap 174. Biffle slid down the track into Kenseth. Kenseth slid up into Earnhardt Jr. and Edwards and hit the outside wall. Then Jr’s pushed Kenseth across the track to the infield where both cars came to rest. He finished 26th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. started in the back after having to go to a backup car due to engine problems and a blown tire. He hung towards the back for a few laps at the start of the race, but flexed his muscle early, leading early and often in the race. He proved that he had one of the cars to beat, pushing people to the front and then passing them as if they were standing still. He narrowly avoided trouble on lap 68, when Brian Vickerss blew a tire and took out Martin Truex Jr. who was running second at the time. But, on lap 174, Jr. wasn’t so lucky when he chose to move to the outside lane shortly before Edwards and Biffle got together and he was collected in the aftermath. He finished 28th.

Kyle Busch managed to avoid major trouble that plagued him early in the Chase. He ran in the middle of the pack, sometimes moving up into the lead, then being shuffled back in the pack. He sustained some damage in the Edwards-Biffle melee, but still managed a positve finish compared to other Chasers. He finished 15th.

Denny Hamlin had a strong car early, pushing people to the lead and leading himself. But around lap 97, he reported a votage problem and the team was concerned the car wouldn’t start on pit road. But, that wouldn’t matter because one lap later, his right front tire exploded, sending him into the outside wall hard. After getting out of the car, he was put on a stretched and taken to the care center for evaluation. He was awake and alert and was transported to a local hospital. Reports are that he sustained an ankle injury. He finished 39th.