 Before the race Jeff Burton led the Drivers'Championship with 5,598 points, with Matt Kenseth second, and Mark Martin third. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin were fourth and fifth. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten drivers competing in the 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup. Chevrolet was leading the Manufacturers' Championship with 231 points; Dodge was second with 180, and Ford was a close third on 179. Johnson was the race's defending champion. NASCAR mandated that teams use a 13.8-US-gallon (52 l; 11.5 imp gal) fuel cell which would allow fewer laps between pit stops and increase the occurrence of tire changes. Tire supplier Goodyear brought a new right-hand tire compound in hopes that racing would be improved. Testing of the tires took place at the track on August 29 with drivers Joe Nemechek and Kurt Busch who believed Goodyear had rectified problems with harder-compound tires that were raised at the previous round at Charlotte (the Coca-Cola 600).
