Gordon captures Auto Club 500

The Associated Press

FONTANA, Calif. -- No flying beer cans and jeers for Jeff Gordon on Sunday at California Speedway. It was all cheers and smiles as the California native won his second straight NASCAR Nextel Cup race.

A week after beating fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a controversial finish at Talladega, Gordon dominated on the way to victory in the Auto Club 500, his third victory in eight tries on the 2-mile California oval. He is the only Cup driver with more than one win here.

"When they dropped the green flag, this car just ran straight to the front," Gordon said. "Randy Dorton in the engine department, thank you, thank you. This was the baddest engine we've ever had under the hood."

Bobby Labonte moved into second place on the 222nd of the 250 laps and was chopping steadily into Gordon's lead until he ran out of gas midway through the final lap. Labonte, who moved within about 10 car lengths of Gordon, coasted to the end, finishing fifth.

Gordon's teammate Jimmie Johnson, who started the last lap in fifth, passed Labonte and wound up second when both Evernham Motorsports teammates Jeremy Mayfield and rookie Kasey Kahne had to pit for fuel.

It was a very different scene from a week earlier, when the race finished under caution and Gordon was awarded the victory by NASCAR, which said he was in front of Earnhardt when the final caution flag came out four laps from the end.

Earnhardt was in the process of passing Gordon when the caution came out. Thousands of Earnhardt fans tossed beer cans and garbage onto the track as the cars drove slowly to the finish behind the pace car.

Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet wound up beating Johnson's No. 48 Chevy across the finish line by 12.871 seconds -- nearly a third of lap. It was the 66th victory of Gordon's career and the 15th time he has won at least two straight races.

Results in Scoreboard on 2B.