NASCAR FINDS WATER IN THE RACING FUEL

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — NASCAR conceded Monday that water got into the fuel supply of more than two cars during the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, apparently leading to a crash that took out several top contenders in the closing laps.

Denny Hamlin was leading the Pep Boys Auto 500 with three laps to go when his car stalled while taking the green flag after a caution period. Martin Truex, who led the most laps Sunday, smashed into the back of Hamlin’s car and finished 31st. Hamlin slipped to 24th.

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“There are multiple teams that are showing positive for some level of water contamination level in their fuel,” said John Darby, NASCAR’s Nextel Cup director. “I can’t tell you the exact number. It’s more than two and less than 43 at the moment.”

Darby dismissed sabotage as a possible explanation, saying too many teams were affected for anyone to have been singled out.

“For those who have their evil, twisted conspiracy hats on, we want to put that to rest,” Darby said. “If it was sabotage, it would have to be the kind of thing where someone hates NASCAR racing across the board.”

He said extensive testing done by Sunoco, NASCAR’s official fuel supplier, showed no signs of problems in the underground storage tanks at the suburban Atlanta speedway. The problem likely occurred in the piping that runs from the tanks to the pumps, or in the pumps themselves.

“It’s a brownish-colored water,” Darby said. “If it was just water, it would be more clear. That should help us understand if it came from a failed pipe or a failed pump or some other source that allowed it to enter the fuel.”

In a “huge majority” of cars that tested positive for water in their fuel systems, the amount was so small that it didn’t affect performance. For example, winner Jimmie Johnson had some water in his carburetor during the post-race inspection.

But the amount of water was enough to affect at least two drivers: Hamlin and Dave Blaney, who had performance issues all day and finished 38th, 66 laps behind Johnson.

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Hamlin down to 12 in NASCAR NEXTEL Chase

AP Sports Ticker

Denny Hamlin’s weekend got off to a great start when he won Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series RoadLoans.com 200 at Dover International Speedway.

However, when Sunday night rolled around, his hopes for winning the Nextel Cup championship were all but dashed.

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Hamlin entered the second race for the “Chase for the Championship” ninth in the standings, but dropped three spots to 12th and last among contenders after a disappointing 38th in the Dodge Dealers 400. He sits 158 points behind leader Jeff Gordon with eight races to go.

Even more frustrating for Hamlin was the way things went wrong in the Nextel Cup race. He was enjoying a solid run until he ran into the back of Kyle Petty’s Dodge on lap 204.

“I was battling for position and I think Kyle was several seconds off the pace and trying to do his best to get out of the way and I think by doing that, the two cars made contact,” Hamlin said. “I ran into the back of him, absolutely. But he came off the corner 10 miles per hour slower than he had in laps before and I wasn’t counting on that happening. He’s trying to battle those few cars for a top 35. We’re trying to battle for a championship.”

Hamlin drove to his garage and sat in his car while his crew repaired the damage. The usually reserved Petty approached Hamlin, pulled down his window net, then slapped Hamlin’s face shield close before stomping away yelling.

Despite suffering from flu-like conditions that nearly forced him to use a backup driver in the Busch race, Hamlin jumped out of his car and made a move towards Petty before crew members separated them.

“Don’t smack me on the helmet. You smack me on the helmet and I’m going to punch you in the face, bottom line,” Hamlin said. “You don’t come to my car; you don’t come to my pit. You meet me somewhere else and we’ll settle it. I have the utmost respect for Kyle, but don’t lay your hands on my head.”

“I did not say one word to him. I asked him to come over and talk to me. He chose to slap my helmet. I have a short fuse. Don’t do that.”

Petty, in his own race to remain among the top-35 in the standings which ensures a starting spot in each race, sarcastically took the blame for the incident.

“We were a little bit loose. I guess it’s my fault,” Petty said. “I watched the Busch race yesterday and I knew Denny was sick – I just didn’t know he was hallucinating and needed three lanes to get up off the corner because he ran all over us.

“I guess he is in a race by himself.”

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Not A Big Fan Of Either Of These 2

PA SportsTicker Auto Racing Editor

Kurt Busch can look at little brother Kyle’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson for some solace after Sunday’s disappointing finish at New Hampshire International Speedway.

The elder Busch brother plummeted seven places in the standings – from fifth to 12th – after engine problems that began on lap 120 relegated him to 25th in the first race of the “Chase for the Championship.”

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The 2004 Nextel Cup Series champion, Kurt Busch entered Loudon 40 points behind Johnson but now sits 102 back, falling to the bottom seed in the Chase.

But he needs to look no farther than Johnson’s 39th-place finish a year ago on the “Magic Mile” in September as reason for optimism. Johnson proved that a poor start to the Chase need not be devastating, as he rebounded to win the title rather handily.

“We survived – it could have been a lot worse,” Busch said. “It’s a bummer what happened (Sunday), but 25th isn’t bad. We had something break in the carburetor that wouldn’t let us get to full throttle.”

Busch’s troubles at New Hampshire snapped a strong stretch leading up to the Chase where finished outside the top 10 just twice – a pair of 11th-places at the Brickyard and Watkins Glen – over the previous nine races.

“It’s kind of a bummer, but we worked hard to get in this Chase and we’ll still work hard,” he said. “This one is a big lump, but it didn’t hurt us so we’ll see what happens.”

On the other hand, Kyle Busch got his Chase off to a solid start by finishing fourth in New Hampshire. That jumped him four spots to fifth place, where he sits just 35 points behind teammates Johnson and Jeff Gordon – who share the lead.

Johnson holds the tiebreaker edge over Gordon by virtue of his six race wins this season.

“It was a good day,” Kyle Busch said. “This bunch of guys did an awesome job for me and gave me an awesome race car to keep up front with these guys.

“We got back a little bit there in the beginning part of the race, which just wasn’t the best thing, but we kept getting better and better and making more and more adjustments to where we could get up front.”

Only race-winner Clint Bowyer, who improved from 12th to fourth, made a bigger upwards move in the standings than the younger Busch.

That’s hardly the look of a supposed lame-duck driver who is leaving Hendrick to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyotas, beginning in the 2008 Sprint Cup season.

“To come out of here with a fourth-place effort definitely means a lot to these guys and this team and myself,” Busch said. “Hopefully we’ll go to Dover next week and have another good run, and go on to Kansas and then to Talladega and see what it brings us.”

Perhaps a nice parting gift – another Nextel Cup title for Rick Hendrick.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — When Denny Hamlin refused to quietly take teammate Tony Stewart’s criticism, it marked a rare occasion of a young driver not rolling over for the two-time NASCAR champion.

And sending word through the media that he didn’t appreciate being publicly blamed for their accident in Daytona showed that Hamlin has the confidence — or ego — to go toe-to-toe with his teammate. After all, the budding young star is the future of Joe Gibbs Racing and probably believes he’s above being bullied.

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The public sniping forced team owner Joe Gibbs to interrupt his vacation and make a pit stop in Chicago, where he gave a 30-minute lecture on playing well with others to his top two drivers.

It was a strong stand by Hamlin. A power-play of sorts.

But when it was over, Stewart took to the track to prove he’s still the star of that team.

By driving his way into Victory Lane for the first time this season, and doing it a day after being chastised by Gibbs, Stewart again showed his remarkable ability to thrive during adversity. When the going gets tough, nobody is better than Stewart at ending a controversy by stepping up on the race track.

His resume is checkered with wins that came during controversy, such as the Watkins Glen victory in 2002, which came a week after Stewart punched a photographer, and Chicago in 2004 after he wrecked Kasey Kahne, which led to a fight in the pits between their crews.

Sunday’s win at Chicagoland Speedway proved that Stewart does his best work during the most chaotic times.

“You know, there is something to be said for that,” team president J.D. Gibbs acknowledged. “Of course, with Tony there’s always a lot of chaos going on.”

Most of it self-inflicted, including this spat with Hamlin.

The two were running first and second in the early part of the Pepsi 400 at Daytona a week ago when Stewart ran into the back of Hamlin, causing both cars to crash into the wall. Stewart immediately blamed Hamlin for the accident, claiming the lead driver slowed in front of him.

That explanation was ridiculed by rival drivers, and didn’t sit well with Hamlin.

“Even if it was a situation where I had wrecked him from behind, he still probably shouldn’t have thrown me under the bus as far as he did,” Hamlin said. “He’s still the leader at Joe Gibbs Racing, without a doubt. He’s the guy who really, when I need help, I’ll still go to regardless.

“But there’s a point where being a leader doesn’t make you right.”

Perhaps that’s the message Gibbs sent after escorting Stewart into a meeting with Hamlin that caused both to miss 30 minutes of valuable practice time on Saturday. Whatever the coach said worked, because the teammates were seemingly best buddies by the time it was over.

They laughed and joked during driver introductions, with Stewart playfully putting Hamlin in a headlock in a show for the cameras. And they worked together on the race track, too, using hand signals to communicate track position.

How long the harmony lasts remains to be seen.

It’s not in Stewart’s disposition to play second fiddle to anyone, especially a 26-year-old kid with less than two Nextel Cup seasons under his belt. But as Stewart’s winless streak stretched to 20 races, and Hamlin beat him to Victory Lane this season by winning at New Hampshire earlier this month, Stewart might have felt a bit threatened.

After all, Hamlin made the Chase for the championship last season and finished third in the points. Stewart missed the Chase and wasn’t eligible to defend his 2005 title.

And, Hamlin has spent most of this season locked into second-place in the standings, while Stewart has hovered around sixth.

If Stewart is the slight bit jealous, he’d never admit it. Besides, his handling of the Daytona disaster spoke volumes.

Barring a total collapse, both will be racing for the Nextel Cup title this season and it will be interesting to watch how the two handle the competition. Because when push comes to shove, Hamlin has shown he’ll shove back.

Stewart, with two titles and 30 wins, can take it right now. He’s earned his spot atop the JGR talent pool, and cemented his position Sunday.

But if Hamlin starts creeping back into Stewart’s spotlight, Gibbs might wind up playing mediator again before the season ends.

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NASCAR’s Bill France

AP Auto Racing

Brian France walked through the FanZone at Daytona International Speedway without handlers or security. The NASCAR chairman seemed like just another face in the crowd.

Few recognized the sport’s most influential man, who was back at the track after a month away following the June 4 death of his father, former chairman Bill France Jr. France hardly eased into his return. He charged back, spending much of last week making it very clear this is his sport now.

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He defended NASCAR’s strong new stance against cheating. He voiced his disapproval of suspended crew chiefs coming to the track during their punishment. His top competition officials — the ones who told crew chiefs they could be on the grounds as long as they weren’t in the garage — were sent scrambling to close the loophole.

“We went to the proper people and asked them what the rules were and what they wanted us to do,” said Tony Eury Jr., who attended five of six races during his suspension. “I just don’t think he knew, to be honest. Brian didn’t know what they were doing.”

There’s always been a perception that France spent his first three years as chairman ruling from afar, thus creating a disconnect from the day-to-day decisions of the family business. That he was ostensibly unaware of what was going on may have proved that has sometimes been the case, but once France saw the crew chiefs flaunting their at-track presence, he quickly corrected his oversight by cracking down.

Then he worked the garage at Saturday night’s Pepsi 400, first joining Sprint chairman Tim Kelly at a news conference to announce a name change to NASCAR’s top series, then introducing Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani to the industry.

France was firmly out front, finally free from the shadow of his late father.

France Jr. was tough to please, and every decision his son made was most certainly scrutinized. It made for awkward moments — from his seat in the crowd, Bill grabbed a microphone to interrupt Brian’s presentation during a 2003 news conference — and probably hindered Brian’s transition into the top job.

Now able to rule without restraint, France is clear to continue his quest to make NASCAR more corporate than country. Simply put, he wants the sport on the same playing field with the other major league sports.

This makeover requires France to trample on tradition, and that comes with the risk of alienating NASCAR’s longtime fans. But in taking off the restrictor plate and shaking things up, France has the opportunity to raise his status and put himself in the same league as some of the top leaders in professional sports.

After all, his emphasis on cleaning up the sport by stomping out its culture of cheating is no different from what’s going on in every other professional league.

David Stern put his stamp on the NBA by trying to clean up its thug image through a dress code and rules aimed at curbing fighting. Bud Selig is cracking down on cheating in baseball with a stringent steroid policy, and Roger Goodell has clamped down on the NFL with a discipline edict that has made character nearly as important as talent.

France wants the same for NASCAR, and at a time when sponsors are hard to come by, he’s trying to create the perfect corporate model. Ridding the sport of cheating, a previously accepted and celebrated part of NASCAR, could do it.

But this zero-tolerance policy is harsh — eight teams have faced heavy sanctions this season, and nine people have been suspended for cheating — and not everyone likes it.

Bobby Allison, who won 85 races from 1966 to 1988, thinks it’s excessive.

“I know NASCAR is really trying to make an impression that nobody can cheat on anything … but that’s not the racing that Bill France Sr. started with and Bill France Jr. continued with and that NASCAR competitors old and new have any kind of feel for,” he said.

That’s OK with France, who has the power to make this a very new NASCAR. He credits his grandfather and father for building the sport, but knows its scope is so much bigger and the stakes are so much higher.

It’s why he pushed to move races from traditional Southern markets and into California, Phoenix, Kansas City and Chicago. And he pulled the trigger on the Chase for the championship, the manufactured 10-race title hunt. When the first three years of the Chase didn’t satisfy him, he didn’t hesitate to tinker with the format and expand the field.

He brought on a new series sponsor and a new fuel provider and is willing to sever ties with longtime regional partners. France has also been at the helm during the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow, which is designed to cut costs, improve safety and foster better racing.

Some of his ideas are radical, and some fans have soured on this new NASCAR. But what France has done is on the same plane as when Selig introduced the wild card and interleague play to baseball. The moves were decried at the time, but few would argue baseball isn’t better for them.

Time will tell if France can do the same.

France has plenty of time to leave his stamp on NASCAR, and his work shouldn’t be limited to this focus on cheating. He wants to explore alternative fuels and the possibility of a race in China. He must find a way to stabilize sinking TV ratings and make sure the COT succeeds. And he should look into establishing a retired driver fund to help NASCAR’s earliest stars.

This is France’s time now, a chance to show this isn’t his Daddy’s NASCAR anymore. But in doing so, it just might become clear the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

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NASCAR’s Gordon and Johnson Fined

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were docked 100 points each Tuesday, and their crew chiefs were both fined $100,000 and suspended for six races for violations at Infineon Raceway.

The two Hendrick Motorsports cars failed an initial inspection Friday in Sonoma, Calif., when NASCAR officials found unapproved modifications to the fenders on their Chevrolets. NASCAR refused to let either driver on the track the entire day, and neither was allowed to qualify.

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But the fenders were fixed, the cars passed inspection Saturday and were allowed to race Sunday. Gordon, the four-time series champion, finished seventh while defending Nextel Cup champion Johnson was 17th.

Gordon remains the Nextel Cup points leader after the deduction, but his margin was cut to 171 points over Denny Hamlin. Johnson dropped from third to fifth.

But both will have to race through the summer without their crew chiefs. Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte are not eligible to return to the track until Aug. 15. The crew chiefs also were placed on probation through the end of the year.

Car owner Rick Hendrick said he was disappointed and called the penalties “excessive.”

“Right now, all of our options are being evaluated, including our personnel situation and a possible appeal to the National Stock Car Racing Commission,” Hendrick said in a statement. “We’ll take some time to decide on a direction and make an announcement regarding our plans for New Hampshire later in the week.”

Gordon and Johnson are the most dominant drivers in NASCAR this season — they’ve won four races each — and Hendrick Motorsports has 10 victories this year.

Hendrick traveled to California after the failed inspection, and argued his crew chiefs were operating in a “gray area” of the NASCAR rule book as it pertains to the new Car of Tomorrow.

“I don’t necessarily say they bent the rules — I think they thought they were working inside an area in which they could,” Hendrick said. “It’s going to be tough, as we go forward, on what’s intentional and what’s accidental and how they handle it, so you’re definitely going to have to show up with these things measured up.”

But NASCAR has insisted this season that there no longer are any questionable parts of the rule book, particularly when it comes to the COT. Teams were warned in March that any infractions dealing with the car were subjected to a loss of 100 points, a $100,000 fine and a six-race suspension.

NASCAR adhered to those guidelines last month when it penalized Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., for modifications found on the wing of their COT at Darlington Raceway.

Now the Hendrick teams have been hit with the same penalties, although many believed Knaus — a repeat offender — should have received a stiffer punishment.

This is at least the 15th time Knaus has been penalized for something during his crew chief career, and this was his fourth suspension since 2001. He sat out four races last season when NASCAR found illegal modifications following Johnson’s qualifying run for the Daytona 500.

Johnson went on to win the 500, and again at Las Vegas, without Knaus. The two reunited in March and went on to win their first championship.

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KURT BUSCH FINED BY NASCAR

Daytona Beach, FL (AHN) – Kurt Busch might be a former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion, but that doesn’t mean that the folks at NASCAR are any kindlier or gentler to the former champion.

On Friday NASCAR penalized Busch 100 championship driver points, fined him $100,000 and placed him on NASCAR probation the rest of the year.

It is the third $100,000 fine passed out by NASCAR this season.

Tony Eury Jr. received that type of fine and his driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was penalized 100 points for a bracket infraction at Darlington and former Michael Waltrip crew chief Dave Hyder got a $100,000 fine while Waltrip was penalized 100 points at Daytona for and illegal substance found in the engine.

Busch received his penalty following a pit road incident with Tony Stewart at Dover last week. Busch and Stewart tangled on the track, which ended up crashing Busch, who promptly retaliated by bumping Stewart’s car on pit road.

NASCAR found Busch in violation of Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing – reckless driving; endangering a crew member on pit road) of the 2007 NASCAR rule book.

Busch’s car owner Roger Penske was also penalized 100 championship owner points due to Busch’s actions.

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Tactical error

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

The Boston Red Sox once sold Babe Ruth so its owner could fund a play. The Portland Trail Blazers once passed on Michael Jordan. The Minnesota Vikings once traded five players and six draft picks for Herschel Walker.

None of those moves were as disastrously bad as the one Teresa Earnhardt made when she thought she could call Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s bluff about leaving his late father’s racing team.

Her stepson was serious. Painfully so for DEI.

Thursday at his JR Motorsports headquarters in North Carolina, Earnhardt Jr. announced he is leaving DEI. Whether he is going to drive for his own team or will join an existing competitor is not certain.

What is known is that he’ll still be sponsored by Budweiser, still will drive a Chevy and, of course, still be the overwhelmingly most popular and recognizable driver in NASCAR.

Only now, he’ll be doing it for even more money and even more (if not total) control.

Junior had asked for a majority stake of DEI to stay. No one yet knows how negotiations between Junior and Teresa broke down – maybe Teresa really did all she could, but it doesn’t seem like she was willing to give Junior the 51 percent control he wanted. Now she has 100 percent of a company in ruin.

Financially, the best move for Junior would be to expand his JR Motorsports, currently a Busch Series operation, to Nextel Cup, where he and current teammate Martin Truex could form a two-car team. With engine and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports, winners of seven of the season’s 10 races, it could be a formidable team from Daytona on.

Most importantly, it would allow Junior to control the outrageous revenue he brings in, cashing in on the popularity that made him bigger than DEI, even if DEI couldn’t realize it.

Since his father’s on-track death in 2001, Earnhardt Jr., now 32, has become the driving force in all of NASCAR. He has what, half the fans? Sixty percent? Seventy? Any track, any weekend is a home game for Junior, as a sea of red-clad worshippers make him more beloved than his nearest competitors – the likes of Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon – combined.

When Junior takes the lead the place goes nuts. When someone bumps him into a wreck, they’ll be met, eventually, with a hail of boos and beer cans from the grandstands.

There essentially is nothing else like it in sports. Only Tiger Woods controls golf in the same manner – assuring crowds, television ratings and revenue. But Woods doesn’t play every week, and culturally golf and NASCAR fans are little alike.

Even so, you wouldn’t see Nike Golf let Tiger walk under almost any circumstances. You wouldn’t see Nike co-founder Phil Knight assume he could just rebuild the division with someone else. Nike knows Tiger is the golf division.

That Teresa Earnhardt didn’t see the same in her stepson is stunning. Maybe she really never does show up at the track? Maybe she really never talks to Junior and still thinks he was some silly, hard-partying kid who didn’t know the difference between tens of millions and hundreds of millions?

Whatever it was, it was a colossal miscalculation.

If both Junior and Truex leave (Truex’s future is unknown), DEI’s Nextel Cup driver stable would consist of rookie Paul Menard and, uh, yeah, that’s it.

It will still have the Intimidator’s likeness to sell – a considerable cash stream. And Jeffrey Earnhardt – Senior’s grandson and Junior’s nephew – is under contract, but he’s 17 and several years away, if ever.

But other than that, it’s a leveling of the company. By not sharing more with Junior, Teresa wound up with all of nothing.

Meanwhile, if Junior keeps this in-house at JR Motorsports (where his sister Kelley is president) he officially can begin to print money. His new operation will select its marketing partners from a crush of Fortune 500 companies.

In terms of merchandise sales, this could be historic; the most popular driver with a new car and number.

Many fans hope Richard Childress Racing would surrender the rights to Senior’s No. 3 and allow Junior to run it himself, but no matter the number, there are millions of Junior fans now in the market for new T-shirts, bumper stickers, key chains, flag, tattoos and heaven knows what else. The No. 8 is obsolete.

It’s like the New York Yankees changing colors. Only with more fans who are more loyal.

If Junior is as smart as he has demonstrated recently, he’d invest some of that revenue into a great CEO for JR Motorsports.

And that is, perhaps, why just joining an existing team, albeit with a hefty compensation or partial ownership deal, would be the better choice. The demands of being an owner-driver can become too big. It’s a double responsibility that has proven extremely challenging for Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon.

Earnhardt needs to concentrate mostly on driving.

Of course, it’s not like he’s been tearing up the track. The most remarkable thing about his popularity is that it is not – like Tiger Woods’ – based on dominating the competition.

Junior never has won a Cup title, hasn’t won a race in a year and has taken checkers just twice since 2004. Yet he has the most fans.

The on-track results had to factor into his decision to walk. It’s not like DEI was giving him the best car each week to begin with. If they weren’t going to meet his business demands either, what was the point?

But for whatever reason, Teresa Earnhardt figured he wouldn’t leave his daddy’s company. Maybe she underbid him. Maybe she refused to give up control. Maybe she banked on a family discount.

Whatever it was, she guessed wrong. Terribly so. The good news for DEI is it only took the Red Sox 86 years to recover from something so dumb.

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Greg Biffle is confident he’ll soon reach a contract extension with car owner Jack Roush.

AP

Biffle’s current deal runs through 2008, but with Ameriquest asking out of its deal as the car’s primary sponsor after this season, Roush is trying to lock up a new sponsor and Biffle at the same time.

“I’m pretty sure I’m staying at Roush. The negotiations are going well,” Biffle said. “I don’t see any reason why I would be out talking to anybody else at this point, or at least entertaining those ideas.”

Biffle, winless this season and 15th in the Nextel Cup points race, said he’s not as concerned about his salary as being with a competitive team.

“To be compensated, average-wise across the board, but the most important thing is winning and being competitive every week and having good pit stops and having a team that you feel like is focused on doing that,” Biffle said.

With Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson all recently agreeing to contract extensions, Biffle would be the one of the most sought after drivers if he went on the open market. He said preliminary discussions included an extension that would run through the 2012 season.

“I don’t have any reason to believe that we’re not going to be able to do a deal with them,” Biffle said.

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NASCAR’S JEFF GORDON MAKES HISTORY

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team has kept a flag bearing the late Dale Earnhardt’s famed No. 3 in its hauler since last July, just awaiting Jeff Gordon’s next NASCAR Nextel Cup win.

It was a long wait, but the crew was finally able to break out the flag Saturday night after Gordon, getting a little luck and making a gutsy pass for the lead, grabbed that historic victory at Phoenix International Raceway.

The win by the four-time series champion tied Earnhardt for sixth place on the career victory list with 76 and was also his first win on the one-mile Phoenix oval, leaving only Texas and Homestead as active tracks where he has yet to find Victory Circle.

After ending the 26-race victory drought, Gordon stopped on the front straightaway to pick up the black, red and white Earnhardt flag, holding it proudly out the window for his slow victory lap as the big crowd paid homage to both Gordon and seven-time champion Earnhardt.

“It means the world,” Gordon said. “Holding that 3 flag, it’s certainly by no means saying we’re as good as him. I learned so much from him. We wanted to honor him. We’ve been holding on to that flag for a long time.”

One of the first drivers to congratulate Gordon in Victory Circle was Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“That means the world to me because I didn’t want to come across the wrong way,” Gordon said. “We wanted to show tribute and honor.”

Gordon started from the pole and led early, but he spent most of the 312-lap race following Tony Stewart, who appeared to be on the way to an easy victory.

As the leaders began a series of green-flag pit stops late in the race, Gordon drove onto pit road at the end of lap 283. As he drove slowly toward his pit at the end of pit road, a three-car crash brought out the yellow flag.

The timing was perfect for Gordon, who was able to finish his pit stop and head back toward the track before leader Stewart came back to the finish line, thereby keeping Gordon on the lead lap.

When all the other leaders pitted under the caution flag, Gordon stayed on track and took the lead.

Once the green flag came back out on lap 294, Stewart tried desperately to regain the top spot. As Gordon struggled to get by Martin Truex Jr., who had pitted before the yellow and was on the end of the lead lap, Stewart saw his chance.

On lap 299, Stewart squeezed his Chevrolet between Gordon and Truex and somehow drove to the lead. But Gordon wouldn’t quit, staying on Stewart’s rear bumper and then driving under him to regain the lead for good on lap 300.

“I drove my guts out,” Gordon said. “I’ve never had to work so hard.”

Gordon pulled away to finish about six car-lengths ahead of Stewart.

Hendrick cars have now won five of eight races this year and Gordon, who joined teammates Jimmie Johnson (3) and Kyle Busch (1) as a winner in 2007, is off to one of the best starts of his career with six top five finishes and seven top 10s.

“We didn’t lead a ton, but we had a good car,” said Gordon, who led 53 laps. “It all did fall in our lap.

“I almost drove through the pit. (Crew chief) Steve (Letarte) made the call (to stop) and I love him. He’s as sharp as can be. He’s so cool under pressure.”

The disappointed Stewart, who led a race-high 132 laps, said, “I felt like the second half of the race we had a good car.”

Denny Hamlin may have had the best car on the track Saturday. He led 70 laps and was still out ahead when he was caught speeding entering pit road on lap 99. Hamlin was penalized to the back of the longest line (30th) for the restart on lap 104.

That didn’t slow him down much. Hamlin, Stewart’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, charged back into contention and finished third.

It was the third race for NASCAR’s new Car of Tomorrow and its first test on a track longer than a half mile. Hamlin wasn’t impressed with the bigger, bulkier car.

“If that was the point of it, to make it more competitive for everyone, the mission failed, in my opinion,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know how we’re going to run these cars on bigger tracks without further changes.”

Reigning Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, finished fourth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Jeff Green and Kyle Busch, in another Hendrick Chevrolet.

Kevin Harvick, who won both Cup races in Phoenix last year, led some laps early and wound up 10th.

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Kenseth gets win in Busch race

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Matt Kenseth made the save first, then he picked up the victory.

That might sound a little backward for baseball fans, but it made perfect sense Saturday in the O’Reilly 300 Busch Series race in Texas.

Kenseth ended Carl Edwards’ two-race Busch winning streak by pulling his car out of a spin without hitting the wall early in the race, then overtaking Denny Hamlin with 11 laps left. Hamlin’s frantic efforts to pass over the final five laps failed. Edwards finished third.

The 0.128-second margin was the closest for a Busch race in Texas.

Kenseth, who was running second when he had to pull out of the spin, got his second Busch win of the season and his 10th top 10 in 12 Texas races.

Hamlin and Casey Mears battled for the lead after a wreck during a green-flag pit stop scrambled the field about 120 laps into the 200-lap race, but a caution straightened things out, putting Kenseth and Edwards in contention.

It looked for a moment as if former Formula One star Juan Pablo Montoya might have a shot at his second Busch win. He beat everyone off pit road by taking just two tires on a caution with less than 40 laps left. But he was called back because of a missing lug nut, and he dropped further back when he scraped the wall shortly after the restart.

The day ended for Montoya, the 2000 Indy 500 winner who joined NASCAR late last season, when he tangled with Busch series rookie Marcos Ambrose on Lap 181.