Johnson denies pass by Gordon, wins race

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jimmie Johnson withstood teammate Jeff Gordon's bumping and banging for much of the last 53 laps Sunday and held him off by a front bumper to win for the third time in six NASCAR Nextel Cup races this year.

The teammates with Hendrick Motorsports provided a stirring duel at the end of the second Car of Tomorrow race, one that was mostly devoid of the destructive physical driving that normally leaves several cars broken long before the checkered flag.

But for the last 53 laps, the show was all Johnson and Gordon, who tried everything he could short of wrecking his teammate and friend, but couldn't make the pass.

Johnson won for the 26th time in his career and extended Gordon's winless streak to 24, leaving him one short of tying the late Dale Earnhardt for sixth on NASCAR's career victory list with 76. It was Hendrick's seventh victory in the last nine races at Martinsville Speedway, the smallest, oldest and trickiest track on the circuit.

"I'm speechless. I've looked up to him my whole career, before I even was back here racing. I've looked up to him and knew how good he was at Martinsville," Johnson said of Gordon, whose seven career wins at Martinsville are the most among active racers.

"That was probably the hardest driving I've ever done," Johnson said.

"I gave him the inside lane a few times. I could see him coming. I didn't want to squeeze him and run him up on the curb, so I left him the inside lane, but coming down to the checkered flag, he gave me a shot in 3 and 4 and at that point, I just turned left and crowded him and tried beating him back to the start-finish line," he said.

The margin of victory was 0.065 seconds.

Gordon was upset at the finish that he wasn't able to make the pass.

"The only way I could get by him was to wreck him, but he's my teammate and I tell you what, there's going to be some interesting racing going forward because he blocked me really bad," Gordon said. "I thought I had a chance at him a couple times, but he shut the door on me pretty good. ... He did exactly what he should have done."

Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton.