Kyle Busch, driving the #18 M&M's Toyota, races during the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images Photo) » More Photos

Then, disaster for Edwards, as he had to pit under green on Lap 213 for a suspected flat tire, but it turned out to be a suspension problem in the front end, which left the nose of his car dragging. That made the order Busch, Harvick, Johnson, Stewart and Ragan.

On Lap 224, Johnson took over second from Harvick, though he was 1.905 seconds behind leader Busch. Three laps later, that margin evaporated, courtesy of a caution flag for debris. The leaders all pitted on Lap 228, for their final scheduled stops on the night.

Busch held the lead on pit road over Ryan Newman, Johnson, Biffle, Harvick, Stewart, Sadler, Vickers, Gordon and Ragan. The green flew on Lap 231 and again, Busch made a great start as lapped traffic held up the rest of the leaders. It took Busch just three laps to open a lead of 2.384 seconds.

But then Johnson caught a break as Paul Menard rear ended Jason Leffler, knocking his rear fascia off and bringing out a caution on Lap 238. On the restart on Lap 241, Busch had the lapped car of teammate Hamlin on the inside of him.

This time, though, Johnson broke clear of Hamlin and immediately set out after leader Busch. Busch held the point, though, only to have caution come out again on Lap 246, when Bobby Labonte spun.

The track went green on Lap 249, but Johnson got by Busch on Lap 252. On Lap 262, David Gilliland lost an engine to bring out the night’s final caution. That set up a 2-lap shootout, but Johnson was unable to hold off Busch for the victory.

LIFELOCK.COM 400 RESULTS

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to