What was a relatively clean race took a turn for the worse with only nine laps to go as David Gilliland and Michael McDowell battled hard for position. The two made contact heading into the final turn, sending Gilliland hard into the outside tire barrier and back across the track.

Bobby Labonte, Dave Blaney, Michael Waltrip, Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson, Max Papis, Sam Hornish Jr. and Joe Nemechek were also involved in the incident.

Labonte was the first car to hit Gilliland as he rebounded across the track and into traffic. As the No. 43 Dodge hit Gilliland, Labonte was also hit from behind by Dave Blaney sending him hard into the inside wall. The Petty Enterprises driver was able to climb from his car, but appeared shaken. After being evaluated at the track's medical center, Labonte was transported to a local hospital.

Petty Enterprises has announced that Labonte was later released from the hospital with no injuries.

A disappointed Labonte stated on Sunday, "That was a superspeedway-type wreck. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow."

NASCAR officials called both McDowell and Gilliland to the NASCAR hauler to discuss the incident.

"I'm going to have to go back and look at it," McDowell explained after the race. "I had a run and I went underneath him and he just didn't give me a whole lot of room. Maybe I shouldn't have been in there, but we're racing hard to stay in the top-35 in owner points and try to get back into the top-35 -- that's what we needed to do with our Champion Mortgage Toyota. It's unfortunate and I'm sorry for the fans and all the cars that got wrecked there and then they had to wait through that red flag. I was just racing hard and really it doesn't look much different than how it was with Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton yesterday [in the Nationwide Series race], but I'm sure they'll make a big deal out of it."

The incident red flagged the race for 43 minutes with only nine laps to go. All other drivers involved in the incident were treated and released from the infield medical center.