 Before the race, Jimmie Johnson led the Drivers'Championship, with 6,248 points, with Mark Martin in second and Jeff Gordon third. Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart were fourth and fifth, and Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers rounded out the top twelve drivers competing for the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet were leading with 244 points, sixty-two points ahead of their rivals Toyota. Ford with 145 points, were nine points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Edwards was the race's defending champion.
