After a crazy finish in the Indianapolis 500 I couldn’t wait to see what the NASCAR race at Charlotte had in store for us. I enjoy this race as it goes from day to night and adjustments are crucial.
The race got off around 6:20 with Brad Keselowski leading the field to green and leading the first lap. Carl Edwards had a good car early on and took the lead on lap 8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr didn’t get off to a good start and hit the wall in the early laps.
Carl continued to lead and built up over a 4 1/2 second lead until the caution came out on lap 74 for debris. Jeff Burton wins the battle off pit road followed by Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. We go back to green on lap 79.
Dale Earnhardt Jr’s car seems to be running better now that the sun is setting, he is up to 5th. Also moving up is Jimmie Johnson as Jeff Burton is dropping back. Denny Hamlin is the new leader and battles with Jimmie Johnson until caution comes out when Bobby Labonte spins on lap 99.
On pit road a few drivers are complaining about the heat and get bags of ice. David Ragan wins the battle off pit road. Kasey Kahne gets a speeding penalty.
Green flag on lap 103 track is cooling down to 120 degrees. David Ragan leads the group followed by David Reutimann, Juan Montoya, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Lap 108 Matt Kenseth passes David Ragan and by lap 118 he has over a 2 second lead. On lap 140 Denny Hamlin is complaining about his engine. He is still running well but says the engine is giving way. We had a long green flag run and cars start to pit on lap 147.
As cars cycle through it is still Matt Kenseth in the lead. Kurt Busch had a loose wheel and had to pit on lap 161. Matt Kenseth has over a 6 second lead and is putting some good drivers a lap down. Caution comes out on lap 171 for debris.
Marcos Ambrose wins the race off pit road and on lap 175 we go back to green flag racing. Jamie McMurray passes Marcos on the next lap for the lead. Matt Kenseth passes Jamie on lap 181 and Jamie McMurray blows an engine on the next lap and caution comes out.
Matt Kenseth leads the field back to green on lap 187 but Landon Cassill gets into Casey Mears as the field checked up on the restart. Green flag again on lap 193 with Matt Kenseth as usual leading.
Marcos takes the lead shortly and Matt gets it back a few laps later. Dale jr is moving up and his car seems to like the night time portion of the race. Another long green flag run and Tony Stewart takes the lead as pit road cycles through. Kurt Busch takes the lead when Tony pits on lap 232. Caution comes out on the next lap as Mike Bliss car stalls on the entrance to pit road.
Green flag on lap 237 with Marcos Ambrose in front, Kyle Busch takes the lead on the restart. Another yellow flag as Paul Menard hits the wall, Martin Truex also has damage. After green flag gets us back racing on lap 245 and its Marcos and Kyle at it again.
Another long green run and some drivers like Dale jr and Jimmie Johnson are moving up in the field. Lap 278 starts green flag stops. Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin cars are starting to become better. Jeff Gordon takes the lead. Lap 282 we have a caution for debris. Green flag on lap 287 and Kyle Busch takes the lead.
Caution out again on lap 289 for David Star hitting the wall. Green flag on lap 293 and its still Kyle Busch in the lead. Caution again on lap 295 for Landon Cassill as he spins. We have only 26 cars on the lead lap. We go back to green on lap 301.
Lap 302 brings out another caution as Mark Martin and David Gilliand get into a wreck that also collects Ryan Newman who are all done for the night. It takes almost 9 laps for them to separate the cars as they were really hung up on each other like teenagers in love. 
We go back to racing on lap 310 and Jeff Gordon takes the lead. He leads for 8 laps until the caution comes out for Kyle Busch spinning through the infield grass. His car is not as damaged as Carl Edwards was after he spun last week through the same spot. Green flag has Kasey Kahne leading as he stayed out of the pits. Kasey Kahne stays in the lead for a while until lap 343 when Kyle Busch takes another spin. He is not having a good night now. Jimmie Johnson has a penalty during the pits as he left a wrench in the car.
Jeff Gordon leads the field back to green followed by Greg Biffle, David Ragan, Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne. The caution came out at a great time for Kasey Kahne as he was coming to the pits soon for fuel. Greg Biffle takes the lead on lap 351. With 40 to go Greg Biffle has built up a nice lead but Kasey Kahne is coming. Jimmie Johnson had to restart 24th on the penalty and is up to 19th after only a few laps. He is driving like a man possessed.
With 20 to go it is still Biffle and Kasey Kahne who are both gambling on fuel mileage. Dale Jr is 3rd and not far behind and reports say he can make it on fuel. Only 2 seconds separate the first 4 cars with 11 to go.
Jimmie Johnson blows his engine with 5 to go and now it will be interesting because of fuel on green white checker finish. Everyone is low on fuel, some leaders are really sweating it out. Greg Biffle has to pit and will take 2 tires and a splash of fuel. He will surrender the lead. Dale Jr takes the lead and there was a wreck but no caution. Dale jr comes around to get the white flag. On the final lap on the last turn Dale jr runs out of fuel and Kevin Harvick passes him to win the race.
