EMERSON RADIO 250 Gordon captures first Busch victory

He had to hold off Casey Atwood's charge over the final 15 laps.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Robby Gordon went from third to first in a three-car battle with 15 laps to go Friday night and held off Casey Atwood's charge the rest of the way for his first NASCAR Busch Series victory.
Gordon, running third as Atwood and series leader Martin Truex Jr. dueled for the lead on the 235th lap, slid under both for the lead when Truex's Chevrolet wiggled into Atwood's, opening the lowest groove.
Atwood regained his command and quickly pulled up onto Gordon's bumper, but Gordon repeatedly closed off Atwood's favored outside lane on lap after lap and won the Emerson Radio 250 by 0.177 seconds.
23rd career start
The victory came in his 23rd career start in the Busch Series.
"This is our first win, but there should have been about five or six of them," Gordon said in Victory Lane before thanking his team.
"You can't say enough about guys that want to win."
Truex was third, followed by Jason Leffler, Kyle Busch, Mike Bliss and Kevin Harvick, giving Chevrolet the top seven spots.
David Stremme, in a Dodge, finished eighth to end the Chevy run.
The race appeared to be shaping up as a duel between Atwood and Truex, both of whom moved to the front when the leaders pitted with 98 laps left.
Pulled ahead
But when Truex pulled inside Atwood in the fourth turn of Richmond International Raceway, his car slid into Atwood's, and the veteran Gordon seized the opportunity, blasting past both in the lower groove.
"It's just tough short-track racing. You get up under somebody and it's so hard not to get loose down there on the bottom, especially on cold tires," Truex said. "I got a run on him, got loose and I want to apologize to him. He had an awesome car and probably should have won the race."
"I'm so disappointed. I thought we were going to win tonight," said a dejected Atwood, who has three career victories, but none since 1999.
Truex, meanwhile, extended his points lead to 105 over Busch with eight races left. Leffler is a distant third, 453 behind.