GORDON WINS DARLINGTON.(Competition)

Hendrick Motorsports moved to 5-for-5 in NASCAR Car of Tomorrow races, but that streak almost certainly would have ended if the Dodge Avenger 500-miler at Darlington had been a 503- or 504-mile affair.

Jeff Gordon led the final 22 of 367 laps for his third victory this year, 78th of his career and seventh at NASCAR's toughest track. Despite overheating issues, he beat fellow Chevy drivers Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson, Dodge driver Ryan Newman and Ford driver Carl Edwards. It was owner Rick Hendrick's eighth victory in 11 races this year, spread among teammates Johnson (four), Gordon (three) and Kyle Busch (one).

Hamlin made the finish compelling, but a pit error left him too far behind. Even so, his charge from 10th to second down the stretch featured some unimaginable passes and car control not often seen at Darlington. He was clearly faster and closing in on Gordon when he ran out of laps.

"I should have more than one or two wins,'' the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. "If we lose 20 or 30 points [entering] the Chase, we'll know where we lost them. I gave away Phoenix [pit lane speeding], but there are two or three others [Martinsville, Richmond and Darlington] that we gave away on pit road. Today was a prime example of that. I'm pretty mad.''

Hamlin led five times for 179 laps and looked unbeatable until the sloppy stop (right-front problems) on lap 307. Nobody else led more than 44 laps, and the final 22 were Gordon's only laps up front. He inherited the point by staying out while most of the front-runners pitted under the next-to-last caution.

Crew chief Steve Letarte guessed correctly that clean air and track position were more valuable than fresh tires.

"We didn't have much choice, because we thought we were going to blow up,'' Gordon said of the crucial call. "But I'll say this: If Steve had said to come down pit road, I'd have come. I was going to be happy finishing second to Jimmie . . . but he pitted under that [debris] caution, and our engine lasted to the end. It was a pretty unbelievable victory.''