Race: Gordon top with second straight win

Gordon dominated the early going on the two-mile speedway, but a pitstop bungle meant he had to re-pit to tighten wheel nuts on his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo. After that, he chased down and eventually re-passed Marlin's Ganassi Dodge, with Rudd's Robert Yates Racing Ford in the thick of the mix too.

After a multi-car accident almost in sight of the chequered flag, the race came down to a five-lap sprint to the finish, with Rudd hard on Gordon's tail.

Rudd briefly snatched the lead on the penultimate lap, but Gordon fought back to head him home by just 0.046 seconds and ensure the top two finished in their qualifying order. It was the triple champ's third win of the season and the 100th for the Hendrick organisation.

More importantly, an 18th place finish for Dale Jarrett's RYR Ford, a lap down on the leaders, meant that Gordon moved into the lead of the Winston Cup points standings.

Jeremy Mayfield finished fourth for Penske South, with Rusty Wallace protégé Ryan Newman making it a penske four-five in his rookie part-season of Cup.

Waymond 'Hut' Stricklin was sixth, ahead of Roush Racing's Jeff Burton, the Dodges of Dave Blaney and Bill Elliott and Kevin Harvick's Chevrolet.

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