Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third, followed by Greg Biffle and polesitter Jeff Gordon. Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and Jeff Burton completed the top 10.

“The 18! The 18! The 18 is back at Atlanta!” Busch exulted on his radio after crossing the finish line, referring to the six wins at Atlanta of one of his predecessors in Joe Gibbs’ No. 18 car, Bobby Labonte.

Busch, who won Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race and led 153 of the first 170 laps in Saturday’s Nationwide Series event before blowing a right front tire, retained his lead in the Cup points standings by 73 over Biffle, who lost two positions in the final two laps after using up his tires in passing Stewart for second on Lap 310.

Edwards began to assert his dominance in the final third of the race, passing Busch for the lead on Lap 240. The driver of the No. 99 Ford, who suffered a 100-point penalty for an oil tank cover violation at Las Vegas, opened an advantage of more than four seconds before Elliott Sadler slammed into the inside wall on the backstretch on Lap 261, bringing out the seventh caution of the race.

Edwards won the race off pit road, but with smoke trailing from his car, he surrendered the lead to Busch on Lap 269. Edwards regained the point on the following circuit but the smoke worsened, and Edwards ultimately brought his Roush Fenway Racing Ford to the garage 51 laps short of the finish.