with 5,168, thirteen ahead of Jeff Gordon and twenty-four ahead of Kurt Busch in fourth and fifth. Jimmie Johnson with 5,138 was three points ahead of Carl Edwards, as Greg Biffle with 5,122 points, was four ahead of Jeff Burton, and sixteen in front of Tony Stewart. Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer was eleventh and twelfth with 5,094 and 5,045 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 197 points, thirty-two points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 123 points, was fourteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Jimmie Johnson was the race's defending champion. Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, while the second session lasted 45 minutes. The third and final session lasted 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Ryan Newman, for the Stewart Haas Racing team, was quickest ahead of Carl Edwards in second and Kasey Kahne in the third position. Clint Bowyer was scored fourth and Greg Biffle managed fifth. Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, A. J. Allmendinger, Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session. Forty-five cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Jimmie Johnson clinched his twenty-fifth pole position in the Sprint Cup Series, with a time of 23.116 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by A. J. Allmendinger. Mark Martin qualified third, Martin Truex Jr. took fourth, and Denny Hamlin started fifth. Tony Stewart, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified twenty-sixth, while Kevin Harvick was scored thirty-fourth. The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Ted Musgrave, Josh Wise, and Jeff Green. Once the qualifying session ended, Johnson said, "This is certainly a step in the right direction for momentum. Last weekend, we ran much better than where we finished. It stinks that we finished where we did, but there is nothing we can really do about it." Mark Martin, who originally qualified third, started forty-second, after having his time disallowed where the right rear shock exceeded the maximum allowable gas pressure. On the next morning, David Reutimann was quickest in the second practice session, ahead of Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch in second and third. Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth quickest,