After qualifying fourth, Bowyer predicted that teams would utilize several different strategies as the race went on: "Some teams can afford to take gambles — fuel mileage-wise, tire-wise, strategy-wise. That separates the race out. It really shakes things up. At the end of the races you are going to see guys keeping track position and doing whatever it takes to be up front to have that opportunity to win." Race The race, the twenty-sixth out of a total of thirty-six in the season, began at 7:30 pm EDT and was televised live in the United States on ABC. Before the race, conditions were sunny with a temperature of . Chaplain Rick Jenkins began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. Next, Synthia Seymour performed the national anthem, and Lieutenant General Harry Wyatt III gave the command for drivers to start their engines. On the pace laps, Mattias Ekström moved to the rear on the grid, after changing his engine. As part of the procedure for replacing Bliss for the race, Labonte also had to concede his original starting position to the rear. Edwards retained his pole position lead into the first corner, followed by Montoya in the second position. After two laps of racing, Brad Keselowski had moved up two positions into sixth on the grid. Two laps later, Allmendinger passed Montoya to claim the second position, but on lap seven, Montoya regained the position. Johnson, after nine laps, had moved from his starting position of eleventh to seventh. By lap 12, Edwards had a 1.31 second lead over Montoya. Two laps later, Johnson moved into the fifth position, as he passed Reutimann. After starting twelfth, Kenseth had moved into the tenth position by lap 21. Four laps later, Kyle Busch, who started thirtieth, had moved up to twenty-fifth. On lap 27, Jamie McMurray moved into nineteenth, passing Mark Martin, as Montoya was catching Edwards. Stewart moved into the ninth position, after passing Menard. After starting twenty-first, Kurt Busch had moved to eleventh by lap 35. Nine laps later, Bowyer passed Allmendinger, as Johnson passed moved into the third position. On lap 50, Johnson passed Montoya for second. Then, one lap later, he claimed the first position after passing Edwards. On lap 55, Reutimann had a flat tire, which prompted the first caution to be given. All the drivers on the lead lap made their pit stops, as Edwards reclaimed the