Start

Under clear blue Virginia skies, Kevin Harvick led the field to the green flag at 1:16 p.m. After 15 laps, he pulled to seven-tenths of a second over Jimmie Johnson. By lap 20, however, Johnson reeled in Harvick and passed him on the outside going into turn 1 to take the lead on lap 21. After 10 laps, he pulled to a second and a quarter lead over Harvick. By lap 54, Carl Edwards pulled to within a quarter of a second of Johnson. After battling back and forth for nearly 10 laps, Edwards edged Johnson for the lead on lap 63. Johnson would pull back ahead to retake it the next lap. Edwards pulled ahead of Johnson the next lap to assume the lead. A number of teams began pitting on lap 85. Edwards pitted on lap 90 and handed the lead to Denny Hamlin. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Johnson. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Matt Kenseth. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Edwards.

Second quarter

After the first cycle of stops, Edwards led over Kyle Busch by two seconds. By lap 115, however, that lead had been cut by half a second. By lap 155. Busch pulled to within half a second of teammate Edwards. Debris on the backstretch brought out the first caution of the race on lap 157. Busch exited pit road with the race lead. Chris Buescher and Hamlin were tagged for an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.

The race restarted on lap 165. Edwards spun the tires on the restart and Busch pulled away. Edwards, however, reeled him back in and took back the lead on lap 169. Debris on the backstretch brought out the second caution of the race on lap 195.

Halfway

The race restarted on lap 203. By lap 231, Harvick reeled in and passed Edwards for the lead. After 15 laps, he pulled away to a two and three-quarter second lead over Edwards. Debris in turn 2 brought out the third caution of the race on lap 251. It came from the shredded tire of the No. 23 car of David Ragan.

The race restarted on lap 258. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 268 for a single-car incident in turn 2. After cutting down his left-rear, Tony Stewart suffered a blowout and slowed down on the track. Brad Keselowski opted not to pit and assumed the lead.

The race restarted on lap 275. After going back and forth for three laps, Kurt Busch passed Keselowski for the lead. Brother Kyle passed him for the lead on lap 287. Debris in turns 1 and 2 brought out the fifth caution of the race with 88 laps to go. Kurt Busch exited pit road with the race lead.

Fourth quarter

The race restarted with 82 laps to go. The sixth caution of the race flew one lap later for a single-car spin in turn 4. Exiting the turn, Ryan Newman suffered a left-rear tire blowout and spun out.

The race restarted with 75 laps to go and the seventh caution of the race flew just after the restart for a spin by Ryan Ellis after being turned by Landon Cassill.

The race restarted with 66 to go. The eighth caution of the race flew with 42 laps to go for a single-car spin in turn 4 involving Brian Scott. Kyle Busch exited pit road with the race lead.

The race restarted with 36 laps to go. Rounding turn 4, Edwards bumped Busch out of the lead and scored the victory.^[18]

Driver comments

Edwards said in victory lane that Kyle Busch is "an amazing teammate and it’s like he got really slow there at the end. Something happened that last lap. It was like his rear tires went off or something. He went down into (turn) one and I dove it in and I got to him and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got something.’ And he went to get down to the bottom and park it in three and four and I had already decided to go down there so I thought, ‘Man, I’m going to give him a little nudge,’ and we both have got wins and we’re racing for fun getting these trophies and just an awesome day.”^[19]

“It's racing, I guess,” Busch said. “We had a really great car. We were fast - maybe not as good as Carl on the long run. The guys gave me everything we needed today. We lost it there on the second-to-last run, but we had a shot to win and that's all that matters."^[20]