Gordon wins; Stewart grabs lead

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jeff Gordon held on in a three-lap dash with Tony Stewart, who grabbed a 15-point lead over third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

Gordon, a four-time champion who didn't qualify for the 10-race, Nextel Cup playoff, completed a sweep of the season's two races on the .526-mile speedway -- the oldest in NASCAR's premier stock car series.

As he did in April, Gordon said he was dedicating the victory at the Subway 500 to the 10 people killed a year ago when a Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed on the way to the track.

"It's been a while," Gordon said in after his 73rd career victory, fourth this year and first since May 1 at Talladega. "What a great, great feeling."

The runner-up finish was the second in a row for Stewart here. He led 247 laps in the spring before a tire came off with 70 laps to go. This time, he led 283 of the first 343 laps, then wasn't nearly as dominant after his last two pit stops.

But his dominance did give him 10 bonus points -- 5 for leading a lap and 5 for leading the most in the race -- to take first place to himself with four races left. He and Johnson came in tied for the lead in a the championship chase.

Greg Biffle, who was third to start the day, just 11 points behind, wound up 20th, and fourth-place Ryan Newman, who was 17 points back, ran 10th.

The race changed dramatically when the 13th caution flew on lap 343 after a spin by Casey Mears. Gordon assumed the lead when he and five others didn't follow the other top contenders onto pit road.

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NASCAR-Nextel-Subway 500 Lineup

Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Va.; Lap length: 0.526 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (15) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 500, 69.695 mph, $184,926.

2. (1) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 500, $179,651.

3. (6) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 500, $136,441.

4. (10) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 500, $125,075.

5. (21) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 500, $107,795.

6. (14) Kurt Busch, Ford, 500, $124,050.

7. (30) Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 500, $90,775.

8. (5) Denny Hamlin, Chevrolet, 500, $75,150.

9. (23) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 500, $83,650.

10. (4) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 500, $120,391.

11. (2) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 500, $103,064.

12. (25) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 500, $116,461.

13. (24) Ken Schrader, Dodge, 500, $71,525.

14. (13) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 500, $90,858.

15. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 500, $115,986.

16. (19) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 500, $78,600.

17. (34) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 500, $103,975.

18. (20) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 500, $113,483.

19. (3) Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 500, $101,083.

20. (22) Greg Biffle, Ford, 500, $85,275.

21. (12) Travis Kvapil, Dodge, 500, $76,525.

22. (16) Casey Mears, Dodge, 499, $92,433.

23. (8) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 499, $91,133.

24. (26) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 499, $87,433.

25. (36) Scott Wimmer, Dodge, 499, $85,047.

26. (18) Carl Edwards, Ford, 499, $82,650.

27. (39) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 498, $94,299.

28. (7) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 497, $93,280.

29. (9) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 497, $103,791.

30. (43) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Chevrolet, 494, $66,725.

31. (28) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 492, $97,783.

32. (41) Hermie Sadler, Ford, 489, $63,550.

33. (38) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 488, $64,375.

34. (35) Mark Martin, Ford, 468, $81,375.

35. (27) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 448, $63,325.

36. (17) Brian Vickers, Chevrolet, 425, $71,275.

37. (11) Jeff Green, Dodge, 409, engine failure, $92,161.

38. (32) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 370, accident, $91,083.

39. (37) Bobby Hamilton, Dodge, 339, oil leak, $63,115.

40. (40) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge, 235, electrical, $63,065.

41. (31) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 172, accident, $63,015.

42. (33) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 115, engine failure, $62,960.

43. (42) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 110, engine failure, $62,008.

Points Standings

Tony Stewart 5,957

Jimmie Johnson 5,942

Ryan Newman 5,894

Greg Biffle 5,874

Carl Edwards 5,808

Rusty Wallace 5,791

Mark Martin 5,787

Kurt Busch 5,785

Matt Kenseth 5,785

Jeremy Mayfield 5,741