Jimmie Johnson takes Hendrick's 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup race win at Darlington

The five-time champion led 133 of the 368 laps but had to fend off Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch and reigning champion Tony Stewart (Stewart-Haas), while saving fuel to make it to the finish without an extra stop, following his last visit to the pits with 67 laps remaining.

While Busch seemed to be his main opponent for a while, Stewart eventually emerged as the greater threat until fuel pressure issues at the final restart cost him a last shot at the lead in the green-white-chequered finish.

That allowed Johnson to pull away and claim his third career win at Darlington, but more importantly Rick Hendrick's long awaited 200th win, following 16 races without a victory for Johnson or the leading NASCAR organisation.

"We've been awfully close to getting the 200th win for the last month or two and I'm very happy that we closed the deal today," said Johnson, who had led the most laps during the season entering Saturday's race but had not won since the Kansas Chase race in October 2011.

"My mind goes back to the early days of Hendrick Motorsports, the people that won those early races, worked on those early cars, helped Rick build Hendrick Motorsports to what it is today."

Denny Hamlin led 56 laps through the night and eventually finished second behind Johnson, following a good final restart that allowed him to go past his team-mate Busch and the struggling Stewart.

The three-time champion battled through a broken clutch in the closing stages to finish third, matching his best career result at Darlington, one of only two current Cup tracks where he has yet to win.

Busch was fourth for JGR ahead of a frustrated Martin Truex Jr (Waltrip Toyota), who gave up the lead during the fifth caution of the day, pitting for fuel and tyres as Johnson and Busch, among others, stayed out and gambled on saving fuel.

Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards were sixth and seventh respectively but it was their team-mate and points leader Greg Biffle who seemed to have the edge to fight at the front, leading 74 laps before dropping back in the end with handling issues to finish 12th.

Kasey Kahne also led laps for Hendrick Motorsports and finished eighth ahead of Australian Marcos Ambrose (Petty), who recovered from being a lap down on the leaders. Joey Logano rounded out a great day for JGR with 10th as all three team cars finished in the top 10.

Danica Patrick finished 31st on her second Cup outing, running trouble-free to cross the finish line six laps down after being penalised for hitting the commitment cone on pit entry in a late stop.

Despite Hendrick's milestone, the team's day was not all joy as Jeff Gordon carried on his streak of bad luck - suffering two different punctures that caused yet another poor finish.

Results - 368 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           3h25m45.000s
 2.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                     + 0.781s
 3.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet           + 1.164s
 4.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                     + 1.389s
 5.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                   + 2.037s
 6.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                + 2.442s
 7.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                + 2.701s
 8.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet               + 2.872s
 9.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                       + 3.213s
10.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                     + 3.303s
11.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                   + 3.479s
12.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford                + 3.947s
13.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet              + 4.016s
14.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet          + 4.068s
15.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                     + 4.086s
16.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet              + 4.163s
17.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet               + 4.265s
18.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              + 4.480s
19.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                       + 5.035s
20.  Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota                   + 6.085s
21.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet                + 7.748s
22.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                      + 1 lap
23.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet            + 1 lap
24.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet      + 2 laps
25.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   + 2 laps
26.  Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                        + 2 laps
27.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                + 3 laps
28.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                   + 4 laps
29.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota             + 4 laps
30.  Reed Sorenson       FAS Lane Ford                    + 5 laps
31.  Danica Patrick      Stewart Haas Chevrolet           + 6 laps
32.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                        + 6 laps
33.  AJ Allmendinger     Penske Dodge                    + 11 laps
34.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet     + 23 laps
35.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet              + 29 laps
36.  David Reutimann     BK Toyota                       + 54 laps

Retirements:

     JJ Yeley            Robinson Blakeney Toyota         132 laps
     Cole Whitt          Turn One Chevrolet                35 laps
     David Stremme       Inception Toyota                  32 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      27 laps
     Mike Skinner        Hamilton Means Toyota             20 laps
     Scott Speed         Go Green Ford                     20 laps
     Josh Wise           Front Row Ford                    19 laps