Gordon refuses to tire in face of hard-charging Subway field

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jeff Gordon made a winning decision at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.

The four-time Winston Cup champion was leading the Subway 500 with the laps winding down and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car looming in his rearview mirror.

The key moment came under caution on the 405th of 500 laps on the half-mile oval when Earnhardt chose to dive onto pit road for fresh tires.

None of the leaders needed any more gas to get to the end, but Gordon said he too was thinking about pitting for tires. Robbie Loomis, his crew chief, told Gordon to come in if Earnhardt did.

"Robbie kind of left it in my hands," Gordon said. "He said, 'Watch those guys behind you, especially Junior. You've only got 23 laps on the tires.'

"Junior went in and I looked at my mirror and saw there weren't that many other guys that were coming (in) and I said, 'I'm sorry, but I can't do it with not that many guys coming.'

"Robbie said, 'All right, now it's all up to you. You've got to take those tires all the way to the end. You've got plenty of fuel.' I just tried to be as smooth as I could and keep after them."

Tony Eury, Earnhardt's crew chief, said his driver really had no choice but to pit.

"He had a set of tires there we didn't like and they were getting worse and worse," Eury explained. "He wasn't going to win the race with those tires."

Earnhardt, who fell to 12th after the pit stop, charged hard the rest of the way but got only to fourth place. He had a particularly hard time getting past Ryan Newman in a battle for fourth, finally taking the position from last year's top rookie on lap 478.

"I knew (Earnhardt) was going to have his hands full," Gordon said. "Ryan worked him over pretty good."

Gordon did get a brief challenge from Hendrick Motorsports teammate and protege Jimmie Johnson after that, but it was really no contest as the winner overpowered the field.

The victory in the caution-filled race was the 63rd win of Gordon's career but only his second of the season. The four-time series champion led 313 laps as he completed a two-race, season sweep on the half-mile oval.

Complete race results in Scoreboard on Page 2B.