While heading to the pits, Luyendyk ran out of fuel, and his car stalled while exiting the pit box, needing a push start. Calkins had a fast second pit stop, two laps after Stewart's, and was able to open a huge gap through traffic and a solid pace: on Lap 84, only Stewart (15.3 seconds behind) and Guerrero (17.2 seconds) were still on the lead lap. By the halfway mark, a cautious Stewart was 21 seconds behind Calkins, before the Menard driver bounced back in order to stay on the lead lap, within 15 seconds of the leader. Luyendyk began to regain ground, steadily climbing up to 7th place on Lap 127. However, his gearbox had been compromised after the pit issues, and the Byrd/Leberle-Treadway driver lost all gears during his third stop, forcing him to retire.
