For the second time in this race, Carl Edwards has chased down Jimmie Johnson's dominant Chevrolet and has his Roush-Fenway Racing Ford out front as the race reaches it's midpoint. This is an important mark, with one brief rain shower already blowing across the track and rain expected throughout the remainder of the afternoon. The track is currently bathed in sunlight, however.
Johnson, the polesitter and winner of three of the last four Dover races, has led 159 laps and currently runs second but is under attack from Martin Truex Jr. Truex won at Dover in June 2007 for his lone Sprint Cup win to date. Marcos Ambrose, having the race of his year, runs fourth, while Matt Kenseth fills out the top-five.
Ambrose's Richard Petty Motorsports teammate A.J. Allmendinger is out of the race after an apparent blown motor. Allmendinger, who started second, ran in the top-five for the entire race before the tale-tale steady stream of white puffs of smoke began to show from his Ford's exhaust pipes. His bid for his first-career Sprint Cup win and the first win for Richard Petty's No. 43 car since April 1999 is now over.