2010 Air Guard 400
Race
### Race

The race, the twenty\-sixth out of a total of thirty\-six in the [season](/wiki/2010_NASCAR_Sprint_Cup_Series "2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series"), began at 7:30 pm [EDT](/wiki/Eastern_Daylight_Time "Eastern Daylight Time") and was televised live in the United States on [ABC](/wiki/American_Broadcasting_Company "American Broadcasting Company"). Before the race, conditions were sunny with a temperature of . Chaplain Rick Jenkins began pre\-race ceremonies by giving the [invocation](/wiki/Invocation "Invocation"). Next, Synthia Seymour performed the [national anthem](/wiki/United_States_National_Anthem "United States National Anthem"), and Lieutenant General [Harry Wyatt III](/wiki/Harry_Wyatt_III "Harry Wyatt III") gave the command for drivers to start their engines. On the [pace laps](/wiki/Parade_lap "Parade lap"), [Mattias Ekström](/wiki/Mattias_Ekstr%C3%B6m "Mattias Ekström") moved to the rear on the grid, after changing his engine. As part of the procedure for replacing Bliss for the race, Labonte also had to concede his original starting position to the rear.

Edwards retained his [pole position](/wiki/Pole_position "Pole position") lead into the first corner, followed by Montoya in the second position. After two laps of racing, Brad Keselowski had moved up two positions into sixth on the grid. Two laps later, Allmendinger passed Montoya to claim the second position, but on lap seven, Montoya regained the position. Johnson, after nine laps, had moved from his starting position of eleventh to seventh. By lap 12, Edwards had a 1\.31 second lead over Montoya. Two laps later, Johnson moved into the fifth position, as he passed Reutimann. After starting twelfth, Kenseth had moved into the tenth position by lap 21\.

Four laps later, Kyle Busch, who started thirtieth, had moved up to twenty\-fifth. On lap 27, [Jamie McMurray](/wiki/Jamie_McMurray "Jamie McMurray") moved into nineteenth, passing [Mark Martin](/wiki/Mark_Martin "Mark Martin"), as Montoya was catching Edwards. Stewart moved into the ninth position, after passing Menard. After starting twenty\-first, Kurt Busch had moved to eleventh by lap 35\. Nine laps later, Bowyer passed Allmendinger, as Johnson passed moved into the third position. On lap 50, Johnson passed Montoya for second. Then, one lap later, he claimed the first position after passing Edwards. On lap 55, Reutimann had a flat tire, which prompted the first [caution](/wiki/Caution_flag%23Yellow_flag "Caution flag#Yellow flag") to be given. All the drivers on the lead lap made their [pit stops](/wiki/Pit_stops "Pit stops"), as Edwards reclaimed the lead on pit road.

On the lap 62 [restart](/wiki/Rolling_start "Rolling start"), Edwards and Johnson were first and second respectively. Two laps later, Bowyer claimed second away from Johnson, as Stewart moved into the fourth position. Stewart then moved into the third position, as Johnson fell to fourth. Kurt Busch had moved into the seventh position by lap 76\. Fifteen laps after the restart, Edwards had a 1\.11 second lead over Bowyer. On lap 80, Johnson reclaimed third, from Stewart, as McMurray moved into thirteenth, after passing Menard. Ten laps later, Hamlin moved into the fifth position. After starting twenty\-fifth, Burton had moved to twelfth by lap 95\. On lap 100, Bowyer passed Edwards to become the new leader.

Hamlin, then moved into the second position, after passing Johnson and Edwards, by lap 107\. Three laps later, Hamlin passed Bowyer to become the new leader. On lap 119, Kurt Busch moved into the ninth position. Eleven laps after Hamlin claimed the lead, he had a lead of 2\.1 seconds over Bowyer. On lap 125, Johnson reclaimed the third position. Two laps later, Burton moved into eleventh. On lap 135, Hamlin managed a lead of 3\.3 seconds. After starting thirty\-third, Kyle Busch had moved into the tenth position by lap 137\. Eight laps later, the second caution was given because of the debris from Terry Labonte's collision with the [wall](/wiki/SAFER_barrier "SAFER barrier"). Hamlin remained the leader during pit stops.

Hamlin led going in the first corner on the restart, but Johnson, who restarted third, emerged in the first position two laps later. Hamlin, then reclaimed the lead a lap later. On lap 158, Allmendinger fell to fourth, as Bowyer passed him. Five laps later, Bowyer claimed second away from Johnson. On lap 172, Kyle Busch moved into the seventh position, as Bowyer passed Hamlin for the lead. Six laps later, Kyle Busch passed Montoya to move to the sixth position. Afterwards, Hamlin reclaimed the lead from Bowyer. On lap 180, Kyle Busch moved into the fifth position. Hamlin, on lap 181, fell to second, as Bowyer and him battle for the lead. Nineteen laps later, Hamlin battled Bowyer to become the leader. On lap 203, Johnson moved into the second position, after passing Bowyer.

Ten laps later, Hamlin had a lead of 1\.2 seconds over Johnson. On lap 216, Harvick moved to the eighth position, as Newman moved into ninth. On lap 226, light rain showers arrived, prompting NASCAR officials to give the third caution. All the leaders, except Jeff Burton made pit stops on lap 228\. Ten laps later, he gave up the lead to Hamlin because of him making a pit stop. Hamlin led during the restart, as Bowyer moved into second. On lap 249, Newman passed Stewart for the eighth position. Nine laps later, Kyle Busch moved into the fourth position. On lap 270, Allmendinger fell to the sixth position, as [Joey Logano](/wiki/Joey_Logano "Joey Logano") passed [Marcos Ambrose](/wiki/Marcos_Ambrose "Marcos Ambrose") for twelfth.

On lap 273, Kenseth reported to his crew that he was having [car handling](/wiki/Car_handling "Car handling") problems. Eight laps later, Logano moved into ninth, after passing Stewart. By lap 285, Newman had caught Allmendinger for sixth. Fifteen laps later, Logano moved into the seventh position. On lap 306, [Dale Earnhardt Jr.](/wiki/Dale_Earnhardt_Jr. "Dale Earnhardt Jr."), who was four laps behind the leader, came to pit road. By lap 309, Hamlin had a 1\.3 second lead over Bowyer. Hamlin had increased his lead from 1\.3 seconds to 2\.21 in only eight laps. On lap 320, Montoya came to pit road, as green flag pit stops began. On lap 328, Montoya passed Hamlin for the first position after the latter came to pit road. Four laps later, Hamlin reclaimed the lead, ahead of Montoya, Bowyer, Johnson and Kyle Busch in the top five positions.

On lap 336, Kyle Busch overtook Montoya for second. On lap 345, Logano moved into the sixth position. On lap 350, Bowyer overtook Montoya for third. After 359 laps, there were only eighteen cars on the same lap as the leader. On lap 366, Logano had caught Montoya (who had since fallen to fifth), but he would not pass him until four laps later. On lap 380, Johnson was in third, 2\.5 seconds behind Hamlin. With twenty laps remaining, Hamlin had a lead of 1\.2 seconds over Kyle Busch. Hamlin maintained this lead, crossing the line to win the race ahead of Busch, who followed in second. Johnson maintained third while Logano and Ambrose finished fourth and fifth.


How many laps after his pit stop did Jeff Burton give up the lead to Hamlin?