Notes: Newman had win, then lost it just as quick (cont'd)

After a pit stop on Lap 224, Busch made up seven spots in the pits and was back in the mix, only to have a cylinder go down 51 laps later. He pitted to fix that and lost two laps, eventually finishing 26th.

"We had a fast car, dropped a cylinder and finished in the high 20s," Busch said. "We can't expect much out of tonight if we don't finish the deal."

Hamlin, already disadvantaged in the Chase, lost more ground on Saturday after experiencing transmission troubles in the final 15 laps. He went from fifth on Lap 324 to 20th at the finish.

Welcome to Hendrick

Jeff Gordon nearly caused a riot early on, bumping Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the low line and nearly spinning him out.

"Dale Jr. was running that high line, and he had so much momentum," Gordon said. "I went down into Turn 3 trying to get all the momentum I could out of it, and he came down off the top right in front of me."

Gordon said he went back to the gas on his marks, but Earnhardt wasn't there yet.

"He was still on the brakes," Gordon guessed. "I hit him and went, 'whoops!' I was able to get by him. It wasn't anything I was doing to get past him."

A bullish performance

A.J. Allmendinger was on pace for his first top-10 finish with 15 laps to go, but the final spate of restarts got the better of him and he faded to 15th at the finish.

"That was by far our best race," Allmendinger said. "On the last stop, [crew chief] Ricky [Viers] made an awesome change and that thing was hooked up. Heck, if the yellow hadn't have come out, I think we would have been eighth or ninth."

It was a solid run for the Red Bull Toyota driver, whose best finish of the season came over Labor Day at California, where he was 18th.

"The car was really good at the start and we started driving up through the field," he said. "We were tight all day, and we had two runs that really hurt us. We got the lucky dog one time, and the other time we were around 20th and the yellow came out."

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

It's a pretty good idea not to make Greg Zipadelli angry on pit road. But that's what the No. 15 Menard's crew of Paul Menard did on Lap 176. Zipadelli's driver, Tony Stewart, had taken off after a fuel-only stop, only to catch Menard in the driver's side door. Menard continued on, and so did Stewart, only to collect Kasey Kahne on the other side.

"I know when we were working on our car, I looked over and the No. 15 crew was clapping at us," Zipadelli said. "I'm a firm believer in what goes around, comes around.

"Maybe someday, if he's lucky, he'll be in that position and that will probably happen to him because he didn't show respect or give and take with other people. We can't control how other people act."

Zipadelli was sending a message, too.

"The kid in the 15 car, I don't know, but I do know his crew was clapping when we were working on our car. That is kind of uncalled for and unprofessional. With us rolling out, it would have been real easy for him to give us the go-ahead, not that he has to; it's a give and take. If you have respect for people and they are racing for something you are not, you kind of usually do that."