Gordon takes sixth win

The win was also marked the first for his rookie crew chief, Brian Whitesell, who replaced Ray Evernham in the DuPont Automitive Finishes garage.

Gordon's tyres proved strong enough to hold off Earnhardt, who charged within a car length but ran out of time and fell short by two-tenths of a second on four fresh Goodyears.

Geoffrey Bodine (Power Team Chevrolet ) was third.

Gordon averaged 72.269 miles per hour in his third-career victory at the famed Virginia short track.

'This is a tough, tough place,' said Gordon.

'In the top two or three, we had to show our strength.

'We were fighting for track position all day long. We knew we didn't want to lose track position.'

'We saw what Earnhardt did with track position.

'We knew if we could get in clean traffic we had a shot at it.

'This is just a blessing from God.

Gordon also paid tribute to his former crew chief.

'We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Ray Evernham.

'He's the one who orchestrated this team for us. Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports gives us the best equipment.

'Our communication was great all week.

'It was strange not having Ray Evernham here. We were missing a link that got this race team to what it is today.'

Fourth place went to Rusty Wallace (Miller Lite Ford), ahead of fifth placed Kenny Wallace (Chevrolet) and Mike Skinner (Chevrolet).