back stretch also has banking from six to ten degrees. Before the race, Kevin Harvick led the Drivers' Championship with 3,400 points, and Jeff Gordon stood in second with 3,107 points. Denny Hamlin was third in the Drivers' Championship with 3,047 points; Tony Stewart was fourth with 3,020 while Jimmie Johnson was in fifth with 3,014. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 167 points, thirty points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 106 points, was ten points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Practice and qualifying Two practice sessions was held before the Saturday race—both on Friday. The first session lasted 120 minutes, while the second session lasted 45 minutes. During the first practice session, David Gilliland was fastest, ahead of Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in second and third respectively. Jeff Gordon was scored fourth, while A. J. Allmendinger was placed fifth, even though the latter had spun sideways twice in the session. In the second and final practice session, Ryan Newman was scored quickest, as Carl Edwards and Gilliland followed in the second and third positions. Jimmie Johnson was scored in the fourth position, while his teammate Jeff Gordon followed in fifth. 50 cars were entered for qualifying, due NASCAR's qualifying procedure, only 43 could race. Johnson clinched his twenty-fourth career pole position, with a time of 15.540 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Edwards. Joey Logano qualified third, Tony Stewart took fourth, and David Reutimann started fifth. Six drivers did not qualify because one team, the second car for Tommy Baldwin Racing, withdrew from qualifying. They were Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek, Kevin Lepage, J. J. Yeley, Brian Keselowski, and Mike Bliss. Also during qualifying, Jeff Gordon spun sideways and flattened his tires, but after changing tires, he qualified twenty-sixth. Race summary The race, the twenty-fourth out of a total of thirty-six in the season, began at 7:30 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on ABC. The race was preempted in Southeast Michigan due to that year's Woodward Dream Cruise, broadcast on Scripps-owned WXYZ-TV in Southfield, Michigan. Before the race. conditions were with light rain showers and temperature of . Ruth Graham daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. Next, children of the drivers and pit crews from Motor Racing Outreach performed the national anthem, and Irwin