Because of the rain showers that postponed the Geico 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway, NASCAR scheduled a competition yellow at the 30-lap mark. Polesitter Matt Kenseth dominated that opening segment, leading every lap and holding a lead of near a second over Kurt Busch. Kenseth's Roush-Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle ran third, followed by Paul Menard and Ryan Newman.
In addition to title contenders Kenseth, Busch, and Newman, the rest of the title contenders were scattered throughout the field. Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch ran sixth and seventh.
At the other end of the spectrum, Denny Hamlin, who started 27th, was still there at the caution to bring up the rear of the Chase drivers. Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick had gained few spots from their 26th and 30th-placed starting spots, respectively, while Jeff Gordon held near his 23rd-place starting position.
In shades of their controversial incident two weeks ago at Atlanta, Clint Bowyer and Juan Pablo Montoya made contact while racing for position deep in the field. Bowyer nearly lost control moments later after being loosend up by A.J. Allmendinger.
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