Race: Gordon joins Indy legends

By contrast, the Indianapolis 500 was 25 years old before it had its first three-time winner - Louis Meyer in 1936.

The native of nearby Pittsboro, Indiana scored his 56th career victory and was hailed by the sellout crowd of 340,000 fans that basked in the Hoosier sunshine. Gordon drove to victory from the 27th starting position, the furthest any Brickyard 400 winner has ever come from, breaking Dale Jarrett's mark of 24th when he won in 1996.

The Chevrolet driver who celebrated his 30th birthday on Saturday defeated Dodge driver Sterling Marlin by 0.943-seconds. Johnny Benson Jr's Pontiac was third, followed by the Fords of Rusty Wallace and rookie Kurt Busch.

It should be noted that it was the first race for Dodge since NASCAR mandated that the Intrepids could run with the front air dam pushed out by two inches - a tweak designed to increase front downforce, and something particularly useful through the Brickyard's flat turns.

"It's really special because we started so bad today and we kept working and working," said crew chief Robbie Loomis. "When you get in a situation like we were in today, you have to count your blessings. This is the greatest race team with the greatest driver."

About the only thing Gordon couldn't do right was a burnout on the frontstretch after he won the race.

"What an incredible day," Gordon said. "I never dreamed it. At the beginning, we were way off. Lately, we haven't had any pit strategy things go for us and that was the key. At the end of the race, we took two tyres on our last pit stop and that was the decision. Robbie Loomis makes all the calls in the pits. We were between two tyres and no tyres and I thought we needed two.

"This has been an amazing week for me," he added. "I didn't think we had the car to do it, but the crew did a phenomenal day today. I don't race for statistics, I race to win and that's what we did today."

It was Gordon's fourth Winston Cup win of the season. His crew made the race-winning move when Gordon made his final pit stop during a caution period that began on lap 131 of 160 for debris. Gordon was among several drivers who decided to pit for two tyres rather than four. That put him behind Marlin, who decided not to pit during the last caution.

When the green flag waved on lap 135, Gordon drove to the inside of Marlin in the first turn to take the lead. He was driving away from the field before Hendrick Motorsport team mate Jerry Nadeau crashed in the third turn on lap 138 to bring out the final caution.

The green flag waved on lap 143 and 17 laps later, Gordon drove into auto racing history.

The only driver to reach three victories at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in less time was A.J. Foyt, who won the Indy 500 in 1961, 1964 and 1967.

There were 18 lead changes among 12 different drivers and Gordon won the race at an average speed of 130.790 miles per hour.

Steve Park was the leader at the halfway point when he moved to the inside of race-leader Tony Stewart inside the third and four turns to take over the lead at the halfway point of Sunday's Brickyard 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Stewart, who decided not to pit under caution when the rest of the leaders made pit stops on the 76th lap, was unable to hold the low line on the track to fend off Park's Chevrolet, which had pitted for new tyres and fuel.

Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, decided not to have his driver pit during the caution period for debris because it would have been an extra pit stop that was not needed. Zipadelli contends that there were two more pit stops left in the 400-mile race so he opted to keep track position near the front of the field rather than fall behind in the lineup.

Stewart, who started ninth, had fought his way through the field in the early stages of the race run under cloudless skies and temperatures near 90 degrees.

Pole winner Jimmy Spencer led the field to the green flag and was in front when the first caution flag waved on lap 2 for a four-car crash in the second turn. The crash began when Andy Houston spun out in the turn. Robert Pressley, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin were also involved in the incident.

The race restarted on the seventh lap with Spencer leading Bill Elliott, Casey Atwood, Ryan Newman and Sterling Marlin. Elliott passed Spencer for the lead on the 17th lap in turns 3 and 4 and the 2.5-mile oval and Atwood was able to pass Spencer for second one lap later. Ricky Rudd, one of the pre-race favorites for the win, had to pit with an engine problem on the 21st lap. The fluids that came out of Rudd's Ford led NASCAR officials to wave the yellow flag on lap 21.

Every car on the track pitted on the 22nd lap and that put rookie Ryan Newman in the lead followed by rookie Kevin Harvick when the race was restarted on the 25th lap. Newman didn't stay there long as Harvick, the NASCAR Busch Series leader, who won Saturday night's race at Indianapolis Raceway Park, drove under Newman in the second turn to take the lead.

Newman encountered problems when he lost control of the rear end of his car in the fourth turn on the 33rd lap to bring out another caution.

Harvick was the leader when the green flag waved on lap 36 followed by Sterling Marlin and Stewart, but the yellow came out immediately after Casey Atwood ran into the back of Dave Blaney, sending the car into the pit retaining wall.

The green flag flew on the 41st lap with Harvick in front of Marlin and Stewart. Four laps later, Marlin drove his Dodge under Harvick's Chevrolet in the fourth turn for the lead. Stewart passed Harvick for second place one lap later. By the 50th lap, Marlin and Stewart had a 2.5-second lead over Ward Burton's third-place car.

Pit stops began on the 62nd lap as Park, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Bobby Labonte and Burton traded the lead before the yellow waved for debris on the 75th lap. That is when most of the leaders pitted except for Stewart. Park passed Stewart for the lead on the 80th lap - 200 miles into the 400-mile race.