Kyle Busch was passed by Carl Edwards, two laps later. After starting seventeenth, Mark Martin had fallen to twenty-seventh by the sixth lap. Busch reclaimed third, passing Edwards, one lap later. After eight laps of continuous racing, Hamlin had a lead of eight tenths of a second, as Johnson moved to fifth. Martin, then fell to thirtieth because of car handling problems. On lap 13, Johnson, followed by Stewart, moved into the fourth and fifth positions, after passing Edwards. Two laps later, Newman passed Hamlin for the lead . Juan Pablo Montoya claimed the tenth position, as Jeff Gordon fell to eleventh. On lap 23, Greg Biffle was scored twelfth, Gordon was fourteenth, and Kurt Busch, who won here in the 2010 Kobalt Tools 500, was running in the twenty-third position. Hamlin moved back into the lead position from passing Newman. After thirty laps of green flag racing, lap times fell considerably because of tire wear. On the same lap, Kyle Busch, who started third, passed Newman for second. On lap 39, Michael McDowell and Joe Nemechek drove their cars to the garage, as Hamlin had a 1.9 second lead over Kyle Busch in second. Mike Bliss followed Nemechek and McDowell into the garage two laps later. On lap 44, green flag pit stops began, as Sam Hornish Jr. drove to pit road. Five laps later, Hamlin and Kyle Busch, who were first and second, made their pit stops. Kyle Busch became the leader, but because of excessive speed on pit road, he had to serve a drive-through penalty. Afterward, Stewart became the leader, as J. J. Yeley drove his car to the garage. On lap 55, Hamlin passed Stewart for the first position. Once green flag pit stops were completed, Hamlin was in first, followed by Stewart, Truex Jr., Kahne, and Newman to round out the top five positions. Kahne, who started tenth, moved Truex Jr. from the third position to fourth, after passing him on lap 62. Two laps later, Stewart passed Hamlin to move into the first position. On lap 70, Kyle Busch drove to pit road, because of a loose wheel. Six laps later, Ryan Newman fell two positions to eleventh, after being passed by Paul Menard and Kevin Harvick. Afterward on lap 80, Edwards passed Kahne to move into the third position. Five laps later, Menard moved to seventh on the grid, after passing Biffle.