Johnson captures flag; record set for caution

Ryan Newman took second place while Jeff Gordon was third in the Subway 500.

SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Ryan Newman upstaged what was supposed to be an encore performance of the Jimmie and Jeff show, but not emphatically enough to keep Jimmie Johnson out of victory lane for the third straight time at Martinsville Speedway.

In a green-white-checkered-flag finish that followed the 20th caution of Sunday’s Subway 500, Johnson won the race under the track-record 21st caution when David Ragan’s spin brought out the yellow after Johnson crossed the start-finish line in the lead as the white flag was displayed.

Newman rolled home second, having accomplished an unabashed bump-and-run on Jeff Gordon on Lap 494, the move that split the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates.

Gordon finished third and lost 15 points of his lead over Johnson in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup. Gordon, a four-time champion, is ahead by 53 points.

In winning for the third straight time at Martinsville, Johnson further asserted his dominance at the .526-mile short track, where he has won four times in 12 races. The reigning Cup champion also collected his series-best seventh victory of the season and the 30th of his career.

Kyle Busch finished fourth and Matt Kenseth came home fifth in a race that ended under caution after going six laps beyond its posted 500-lap distance.

Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10. Third in the Chase standings, Bowyer dropped to 115 points behind Gordon, who led the most laps Sunday — 168 to Johnson’s 147.

For a moment, Johnson was happy to see Newman pass his teammate, until he realized the victory might be in jeopardy. Newman made a strong move on the first lap of the green-white-checkered finish, but the final caution cut short his bid for the win.

“I was happy to see the 12 [Newman] get by the 24 [Gordon], because I was thinking about the points we would gain on the 24,” Johnson said. “But then I said, ‘Whoa, Ryan’s hungry. He hasn’t won in a while.’ I was more worried about the 12 at the end there than I was about the 24.”

Newman rued the final caution.

“In hindsight, I wish we’d had that last lap,” said Newman, who last won in September 2005. “He [Johnson] overcooked [Turns] 3 and 4, and I was underneath him, but we got the white and then the yellow.”

For a while, the race, which also produced a track-record 127 caution laps, took on a striking similarity to the Martinsville event in the spring, when Johnson held off Gordon for the win.

Gordon held the lead from the restart on Lap 403 through two caution periods, until Johnson passed him through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 457. Moments later, contract from Kasey Kahne’s Dodge sent Ricky Rudd spinning into the wall off Turn 2 to bring out the 16th caution.

Gordon chased Johnson for one lap after a restart on Lap 464, before Kyle Petty spun after contact from Martin Truex Jr. and blocked the track in front of Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards, both of whose cars suffered slight damage during the incident.

Johnson remained at the front the rest of the way. A multicar wreck on the backstretch brought out the 20th caution on Lap 496 and set up the green-white-checkered finish.