The longest winless drought of Jimmie Johnson's career is over. The five-time Sprint Cup champion manhandled the field throughout the day and held off Kasey Kahne over a green-white checker to score his first victory since Talladega in April.
Kahne took second, over Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards who suffered through a miserable day before surging late. Kevin Harvick finished sixth, followed by Clint Bowyer, polesitter Greg Biffle, Marcos Ambrose, and Mark Martin.
Johnson had the race well in hand before teammate Jeff Gordon's engine grenaded with only three laps remaining. The motor failure likely ends Gordon's bid for his fifth Sprint Cup title, while Tony Stewart had his second bad finish in a row. This time, he finished 15th after running in the top-five nearly the entire event. A late pit stop dropped Stewart to ninth, while he pitted again under the caution for Gordon's engine failure and slid through his pit stall.
It had been 21 races since Johnson won by inches over Clint Bowyer at Talladega. Until Gordon's engine failure, his victory was in little if any doubt throughout the day as he led 197 laps.
Edwards' rebound was enough to give him the point lead by just one marker over Harvick, with whom he entered the race tied for the lead.