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It had been 76 long races since Dale Earnhardt Jr. had gone to victory lane heading into the Lifelock 400 at Michigan. That all went away after 400 miles of racing, as Earnhardt stood victorious in victory lane for the first time in over two years.

Earnhardt was able to earn the victory using fuel mileage, surving a green-white-checkered that extended the length of the race, as he ran out of fuel just after crossing the finish line.

"It is what it is man," Earnhardt said in victory lane. "We were going to stay out there no matter what. They can write what they want, but we won one."

Behind Earnhardt was Kasey Kahne, who earned his third top-5 in four races, which has allowed him to climb to 7th in points, while 3rd and 4th place finishers Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers have pulled within 14 and 97 points of 12th in points.

Meanwhile, it was yet another disappointing day for Greg Biffle, who had been running in the top-10 all day long until his final pit stop with 15 laps to go. While exiting his pit stall, he ran over the air hose, and had to serve a drive-through penalty while under green. The latest bit of misfortune left Biffle with a 20th place finish, dropping him to 8th in points.

But as Biffle's struggles have continued, Tony Stewart's may have finally ceased. Stewart ran a clean race and was able to finish 5th, his first finish higher than 18th in four races. The top five allowed Stewart to get a little bit of breathing room between himself and David Ragan in the points, who sits 13th.

Earnhardt's win came also thanks to Patrick Carpentier, whose spin on the last lap saved Earnhardt from running out of gas.

"We were going to stumble to the finish and probably not win the race. We weren't going to finish. The yellow saved us," Earnhardt said after the race.

While Earnhardt's fuel strategy payed off, it didn't for Mark Martin, who was third on the final restart when he ran out of fuel. When it was all said and done, Martin was 25th, one lap down.