Jeff Gordon went to Victory Lane for the third time this season after winning the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
The driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet managed to hold off Kevin Harvick in the #4 Freaky Fast Chevrolet to get the chequered flag, thirteen years after his last victory at this track.
Joey Logano in the #22 Pennzoil Ford who led the most laps came home 3rd just ahead of Paul Menard in the #27 and Dale Earnhardt Jr in the #88 who rounded out the top five.
Gordon told ESPN reporters in Victory Lane: "It wasn't easy, it's never say to win. But I thought we improved a lot since last time here and I knew it would get interesting with Kurt (Busch) and Joey (Logano) because those two are aggressive. Then all of a sudden we were out front and taking the chequered flag it's just amazing."
The fast and action packed race began with Gordon in the Axalta #24 starting on the pole after going over 206mph in qualifying, a new track record, and beating Team Penske driver Logano in the #22 to the pole.
But it was Logano who lead the first lap after passing Gordon going down the backstretch on the 2 mile oval.
The first caution was shown on lap 3 when Kyle Busch in the #18 got loose off turn four and hit the outside wall sustaining a lot of damage inside as well as on the outside of the car.
Busch was running in 19th place when he brought out the caution and had to go to the garage area for repairs to the suspension and sheet metal on the right hand side of the #18 machine.
Shortly after the green flag was back out, Earnhardt Jr in the #88 and Carl Edwards in the #99 were reporting to their teams that the cars were not running well. Earnhardt Jr was too tight and Edwards was too loose.
Luckily for both of them the competition caution was thrown on lap 20 so that all of the teams could check how the cars were running after the track was washed clean because of some over night rain.
The leaders were on pit road under the yellow, but Ryan Newman in the #31 was the first driver to stay out from 10th along with Jimmie Johnson in the #48 from 34th position.
There was trouble on pit lane between Earnhardt Jr and rookie Kyle Larson in the #42 as Earnhardt Jr pulled out into the path of Larson and they got together leaving their pit stalls.
Following the pattern of the races in the last five years, having a number of cautions early on, the third caution was waved into turn one of the restart on lap 22.
Danica Patrick in the #10 was clipped by Jeff Burton who was running for Tony Stewart in the #14 which sent Patrick sideways and she was hit by Justin Allgaier in the #51.
Rookie Michael Annett in the #7, Martin Truex Jr in the #78, Trevor Bayne in the #21 and Matt Kenseth in the #20 all sustained damage in that pile up as further back J.J Yeley who was sitting in for the injured Ryan Truex in the #83 was spun as he slowed to avoid Patricks crash.
Johnson was in the lead for the first time in the #48 as he was ahead of Newman at the last scoring loop before the yellow flags.
Lap 38 saw the fourth caution of the race already as there was debris in turn two which was later reported to have come off one of the cars who got repairs on pit lane under the previous yellow.
Logano in the #22 was back to the lead under caution as ajohnson came to the pit road for the first time.
On lap 47, just before the quarter way mark, Truex Jr in the #78 was back on track but 8 laps down as Allgaier in the #51, Kenseth in the #20 and Annett in the #7 were all still in the garage area.
When it got to the quarter mark at 50 laps Logano, Gordon, Harvick, McMurray and Keselowski made up the top 5 as Johnson reported to the #48 team that the gear stick was broken in the car.
Pole-sitter Gordon was back to the lead on lap 59 as he passed Logano on the start/finish line to start lap 60.
The pit stops began for the leaders at lap 61 as the ten seven cars had pitted on lap 22 under the third caution of the race, Keselowski in the #2 was the first one down pit road.
Earnhardt Jr was cycled to the lead on lap 64 because he and Johnson, who was in 2nd at this point, were on an alternative strategy to the top ten cars.
Johnson was then out front on lap 70 as Earnhardt Jr came to his pit box for his latest stop.
Lap 77 saw Gordon go back to the lead as Johnson pitted, albeit with help from crew chief Chad Knaus as he had no gear stick and as he pitted the team passed him pliers to change the car into the right gear as he left pit road.
The #48 team had to push him down pit road as he struggled to get the car restarted but the six-time champion had the car back into the correct gear by the middle of his out lap.
There was trouble for Burton in the #14 on lap 82 as he reported to the team that he could see smoke and smell burning inside the cockpit so they took the car to the garage area and it turned out to be a broken tailpipe.
Burton told ESPN reporters: "At first I couldn't see anything wrong but then I started seeing smoke so we decided it would be best to come to the garage to try and fix it."
On lap 96 Earnhardt Jr in the #88 reported to his team on the radio that he thought there may be a problem with the front right tire of the car.
Just after Earnhardt Jr told his team that the fifth caution was shown when rookie Larson in the #42 blew a right front tire and hit the outside wall in turn four and the car burst into flames but Larson made it out safely.
Johnson was on the pit road, along with the other leaders, for an extended stop to fix the broken shifter on the #48 and he returned to the track one lap down.
The fifth caution came at the half way point of the race on lap 100 as Newman, Logano, McMurray, Earnhardt Jr and pole sitter Gordon were the top five. There had been a total of six leaders in the first half of the race and five cautions.
After an extended clean up following the Larson crash into the turn four wall, Newman brought the field to the green for the latest restart with just half of the field on the lead lap.
Newman wasn't out front for long as Logano was once again out front in the #22 after pitting just before the fifth caution was thrown, meaning he had fresh tires compared to Newman who elected to stay out.
Newman was on pit road at lap 124 as he was on a separate pit strategy to the rest of the leaders as Edwards in the #99 suffered a bad first pit stop and had to come back down again to sort out the problems, he rejoined in 27th two laps down.
The rest of the leaders began their latest pit stops on lap 138 with Gordon, Earnhardt Jr and Ambrose all pitting together.
A lap later leader Logano was on pit road in the #22 which allowed Kurt Busch in the #41 Hass Automation car to go to the point for the first time in the race.
But great driving from pole-sitter Gordon allowed him to resume the lad on lap 143 when he beat Kurt Busch as he was exiting the pits and passed Logano on the same lap.
At the three quarter way mark of lap 150 Gordon, Logano, Harvick, Kurt Busch and Earnhardt Jr made up the top five as Gordon had a 1.2 second lead over the #22.
Notably the top three, #24, #22 and #4, at this point had been in the top five for most of the race, showing that they had strong cars all through the race to this point.
There was more pit trouble for Edwards in the #99 when he pitted on lap 162 out of fuel and had to get a push from his team to get restarted and rolling.
Kurt Busch was back to the lead on lap 166 as the leaders began to make what they hoped would be their last stops in the race.
But the sixth caution of the race was thrown on lap 168 when the current leader Keselowski in the #2, who had elected to stay out longer, suffered a flat front right tire and hit the outside wall into turn one hard.
The restart can with 28 laps to go but the yellow was out again almost instantly as Brian Vickers in the #55 got loose out of turn four and made contact with rookie Alex Bowman in the #23 and spun as a result.
Yellow fever began to strike the race as when they restarted with 23 laps to go after Vickers' spin Logano in the #22 and Kurt Busch in the #41 made up the front row but coming out of turn two Busch got loose and hit the outside wall hard.
He managed to carry in going for a lap but as he went into turn one with 22 laps to go the left rear tire blew chucking debris all over the track resulting in the eigth caution of the race.
The restart can with 17 laps to go as Logano sat in control of the race in 1st, but pole-sitter Gordon passed the driver of the #22 into turn three and took the lead.
With just ten laps to go Gordon was out front with a 1.2 second lead over Stewart Haas Racing driver Harvick as Menard in the #27, Logano in the #22 and Earnhardt air rounded out the top five.
A battle for 10th place between Newman and Johnson heated up with eight laps to go when Johnson got into Newman off turn four and sent them both sideways but they saved it and carried on racing.
But Gordon managed to hold on from Harvick to get his third win of the 2014 Sprint Cup Series season as Logano pipped Menard at the line by 0.1 seconds as the chequered flag waved on the Pure Michigan 400.
Next week's race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season comes from the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway also known as the 'Last Great Colesium' and with only three races until the Chase it could get very interesting.