Just 1 week removed from the historic Daytona 500, what a difference a week makes, The youngest ever winner of the 500 Trever Bayne would crash in friday practice, and for the first time ever would be in a "back-up" car, how would he fair.
Other stories to watch include Kyle Busch was looking to cap of a dominante weekend, having won in the Trucks and then leading every lap in nationwide, with Carl Edwards also crossing the stripe in second on every lap, Could the current points leader Carl Edwards increase his lead over the pack. having finished in the top 2 in the last 3 races he's surely one to watch, and with 48 points the maximum point haul for a race, who could forget the 5 time champion Jimmie Johnson.
Expect to see a different style of racing here from last week, this track is all about the driver, and it will be every man for himself.
The first 70 laps were eventful, with 2 multi-car incidents.
The first was caused by Busch making contact with polesitter Carl Edwards exiting Turn 2, causing the Roush Fenway racer to drive over the grass and sustain damage to the front end of his Ford.
Edwards lost control after that and slid towards the barrier with the front wheels locked, forcing Gordon against the wall as well. However his Hendrick crew was able to quickly get the right front fender back in shape under the caution, putting Gordon back in contention.
Only eight laps later during the following restart, a multi-car crash involving 13 drivers ignited when Red Bull's Brian Vickers got loose and spun at the very same spot after a brush with Matt Kenseth, resulting in a brief red-flag stoppage.
Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne ended up crashing heavily against the wall which would take him out of the race, when he made contact with Travis Kvapil's Ford at the end of the front-stretch early in the race.
Both Gordon and Busch recovered from there earlier incidents, following the final restart with 22 laps remaining, Gordon had to chase the leading Toyota of Busch, who passed Tony Stewart for the lead shortly after the green flag waved for the last time.
Busch was hoping to complete a sweep of wins in all three of NASCAR's top championships for the second time in his career, having won on Friday in the Truck Series event, and taken victory again on Saturday in the Nationwide Series. However Gordon had different plans in his Drive to End Hunger-sponsored Impala, as he started to put pressure on the Joe Gibbs driver as the lap-count faded.
Gordon eventually got to the rear bumper of Busch with nine laps to go, almost passing him at the exit of Turn 4. He got side-by-side with his rival along the front-stretch, kept his line entering Turn 1 and made contact with Busch as both drifted onto the 11-degree banking.
As Gordon came out of Turn 2 he had already opened a gap that he was able to stretch over the final eight laps to claim a very popular win.
Jeff Gordon ended a 66-race win-less streak and would lead a race-high 138 laps. Gordon's win also allowed him to tie Cale Yarborough in the record books in fifth in the all-time list of race winners, Gordon being the leading active driver in that ranking - in which he is only one win shy of third-placed Darrell Waltrip.
"I just beat Kyle Busch!" screamed Gordon on his radio after crossing the stripe.
"I've not been in position to put pressure on the leader and force him to make mistakes to be in control of the situation in a very long time and that's what I loved about today," said Gordon. "To be in that position was a very cool feeling. You feel like you're in control of your destiny.
"It got a little hairy getting into [Turn] 1. I was shocked I even got underneath [Busch] but when I did I thought 'I'm going to check up early' because I was afraid he was going to do the swap-over on me on the exit. He's pretty notorious about that."
Results - 312 laps
1. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 3h01m49.000s
2. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota + 1.137s
3. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet + 2.500s
4. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet + 2.827s
5. Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Chevrolet + 3.697s
6. Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota + 4.161s
7. Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Chevrolet + 6.262s
8. Kurt Busch Penske Dodge + 9.041s
9. AJ Allmendinger Petty Ford + 9.176s
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet + 9.500s
11. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota + 10.853s
12. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford + 10.927s
13. Mark Martin Hendrick Chevrolet + 11.545s
14. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota + 15.323s
15. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge + 1 lap
16. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford + 1 lap
17. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet + 1 lap
18. Casey Mears Germain Toyota + 1 lap
19. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 1 lap
20. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford + 1 lap
21. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota + 2 laps
22. David Gilliland Front Row Ford + 2 laps
23. Bill Elliott Phoenix Chevrolet + 3 laps
24. Mike Skinner FAS Lane Ford + 4 laps
25. Tony Raines Front Row Ford + 6 laps
26. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet + 36 laps
27. Clint Bowyer Childress Chevrolet + 52 laps
28. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford + 60 laps
29. David Reutimann Waltrip Toyota + 66 laps
30. Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota + 74 laps
31. Andy Lally TRG Chevrolet + 75 laps
32. Robby Gordon Gordon Dodge + 76 laps
Non-finishers:
Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota 213 laps
Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 213 laps*
Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 126 laps
David Ragan Roush Fenway Ford 125 laps
JJ Yeley Whitney Chevrolet 72 laps
Landon Cassill Germain Toyota 68 laps
Travis Kvapil Front Row Ford 66 laps
Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford 49 laps
Michael McDowell HP Toyota 43 laps
Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 27 laps
Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 22 laps
* Running again at chequered flag
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