Vickers, the pole sitter, grabbed the lead with two laps to go when Jimmie Johnson ran out of fuel. He then held off Jeff Gordon, who also gambled on fuel, by 1.4 seconds for his second career Cup victory, but his first since October 2006 at Talladega.

After his cool-down lap, Vickers' car came up short of gas from allowing him to do a burnout on the infield grass.

"It's been a long time coming," said Vickers, who gave Red Bull Racing its maiden Cup win. "It's been a long three years. A lot of struggles, and a lot of pains. No one gave up. That's the reason we're here in Victory Lane."

Vickers, who drove the final 51 laps without pitting, also gave Toyota its first victory at MIS, which is located less than 100 miles from the three major U.S. automobile manufacturers in Detroit.

"Brian did exactly what he needed to do," Vickers' crew chief Ryan Pemberton said. "I told him exactly what we needed. I referenced the last race here. So he knew about what program he had to be on to make it happen. He did that."

Gordon hung on for a second-place finish, while Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards and Sam Hornish Jr. completed the top-five.

"I really felt confident we were going to make it, even though (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) told me we were four short when we left pit road that last pit stop," Gordon said. "I felt like I got us six laps. At least with the caution, I felt like I did. I felt pretty confident I didn't have to conserve a whole lot."

Gordon and Johnson also made their final stops at the same time Vickers did.

Earnhardt Jr. had plenty of fuel to go the distance when he last pitted with 32 laps remaining. He also overcame a vibration issue just before the half-way point in the 400-mile race. It was also Earnhardt Jr.'s best finish since his second-place run in April at Talladega.

"When we started the race, the car was really loose," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We worked on it. I got it pretty decent in the middle part of the race, but we didn't have the overall speed that we needed. We decided to make a change about two or three runs left. The car really was good after that."

In June, Johnson held the lead before running out of gas just short of crossing the line to start the final lap at Michigan. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin went on to score the victory.

"It was certainly frustrating, but we've won only one race on fuel mileage, and it's just not what we're good at," said Johnson, who ended up finishing one lap down in 33rd. "I think it's a little too risky for us to try it."

Johnson once again dominated Michigan, leading 133 of 200 laps. He also led 146 laps before finishing 22nd here earlier this season.

Casey Mears finished sixth, followed by Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, David Reutimann and Denny Hamlin.

Martin and Matt Kenseth also ran out of fuel in the final laps. Martin ended up finishing 31st, while Kenseth was able to coast home in 14th.

Tony Stewart came in 17th and left Michigan with a 284-point lead over Gordon. Stewart became the first driver to clinch a spot in the 10-race "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship, which begins next month at New Hampshire.

Martin dropped two spots to 12th and holds just a slim 12-point lead over Vickers, who moved up to 13th. Kyle Busch also slipped two positions to 15th after finishing 23rd. Busch is 70 points behind the coveted 12th spot with four races remaining before the Chase starts.

Kurt Busch took a hit in points as well.

Just after a restart on lap 120, Busch and David Ragan made contact, with Busch spinning into the infield wall in turn four. He sustained heavy damage to the front end of his car. He finished 36th and dropped to sixth in points.