Kyle Busch drove to his garage with a broken brake motor on the 254th lap and Mayfield led the field back up to speed for the restart on the 256th lap, ahead of Kenseth, Vickers, Stewart and Johnson. Mayfield dropped to third place as Kenseth and Vickers moved into first and second places on lap 257. Kenseth held a 2.2-second lead over Stewart, who moved to second and was closing on Kenseth by lap 265. The race's tenth caution was triggered two laps later when Kahne lost control of his car and hit the turn two right-hand side wall. Most of the leaders, including Kenseth, elected to make pit stops. Johnson led the field on the lap-272 restart, followed by Kenseth and Stewart. Kenseth passed Johnson to reclaim the first position four laps later. Vickers and Rudd made contact while leaving the fourth turn on lap 281 but no caution was needed. Johnson retook the lead from Kenseth two laps later. Mayfield spun 360 degrees on the front stretch and went into the infield grass after trying to avoid a slower car on his right on lap 291, causing the eleventh caution. The leaders, including Johnson, made pit stops for tires under caution. Rudd took over the lead for one lap before making a pit stop on lap 293. Johnson regained the lead after the pit stops, maintaining it at the lap-297 restart; he was followed by Kenseth and Earnhardt. Kyle Busch rejoined the race on the same lap. Kurt Busch lost control of his car on the backstretch on lap 298; his car spun off and hit a left-hand wall, causing the twelfth caution. He drove to his garage to retire.