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Johnson beats Gordon at Vegas

Jeff Gordon dominated most of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas on Sunday, but it was Jimmie Johnson who came out on top to claim his second win this year

Gordon looked on course for victory before the final caution came out with 37 laps to go. His crew chief Steve Letarte called for a two-tyre stop, while his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Johnson went for four.

Clint Bowyer stayed out to lead the field to the green flag, but Gordon immediately moved up front again, with Johnson closing after overtaking both Bowyer and his Richard Childress Racing team-mate Kevin Harvick, who had also taken only two new tyres.

While Gordon tried to use clean air up front to give him the edge, Johnson made the most of his grip advantage to eventually overtake his team-mate with 16 laps remaining. Gordon was unable to keep up with the reigning champion after that, later losing second place to points leader Kevin Harvick.

"It came down to pitstops," said Johnson. "I thought the race was going to come down to pitstops and who got a good restart. It kind of turned out that way, although the four tyres I think helped us more than anything. I got a good start and got around Bowyer. I was behind Jeff, chasing him. I'd been chasing him all day.

"I wasn't sure I'd get by him, I just kept putting a lot of pressure on him, hoping he'd make a mistake, hoping I could get him to overdrive his car and make it tight or do something wrong. Finally I was able to get inside of him and committed to trying the slide job on him in [Turns] 3 and 4, and was able to get by."

Gordon lamented losing a win that looked within reach, but still supported his crew chief's decision to take on two new tyres at their final stop, a move that probably cost him victory.

"We came here to win and I felt like every decision we made today on the track and in the pits was to try to win the race," said Gordon. "When you are leading sometimes that tough call can go against you.

"We were thinking more guys were going to take two tyres. We aren't going to beat ourselves up over this one; we had an awesome, awesome car."

Harvick came back from a poor qualifying run after hitting the wall in the first practice to take back-to-back second places and remain at the top of the standings.

"Once we got track position, our car was really fast," said Harvick. "Those guys got away from us a little bit on the restart, kinda like they did last week. We just needed a complete run. All-in-all, to come from where we started - I got us behind on Friday, got us back in the field on qualifying and we were able to rebound from that."

Mark Martin moved up to fourth place in the closing laps, also moving up to third in the points, while Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth, who led the race for a while, rounded out the top five after getting back in the right pit sequence at the final stop. He had been forced to make an unscheduled stop earlier due to a suspected loose wheel.

Polesitter Kurt Busch (Penske Dodge) was unable to translate his qualifying speed into the race after getting caught up in an incident between Earnhardt Ganassi team-mates Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray.

The pair were fighting for ninth spot when McMurray hit Montoya's car in the left rear corner entering Turn 3 on lap 93, sending both against the barrier and out of contention for victory.

Last year's winner Kyle Busch missed out on a top five finish due to a speeding penalty in his final stop, while his Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Joey Logano rounded out another good weekend with a sixth place finish.

Pos  Driver                Car         Laps
 1.  Jimmie Johnson        Chevrolet    267
 2.  Kevin Harvick         Chevrolet    267
 3.  Jeff Gordon           Chevrolet    267
 4.  Mark Martin           Chevrolet    267
 5.  Matt Kenseth          Ford         267
 6.  Joey Logano           Toyota       267
 7.  Tony Stewart          Chevrolet    267
 8.  Clint Bowyer          Chevrolet    267
 9.  Kasey Kahne           Ford         267
10.  Greg Biffle           Ford         267
11.  Jeff Burton           Chevrolet    267
12.  Carl Edwards          Ford         267
13.  David Reutimann       Toyota       267
14.  Marcos Ambrose        Toyota       267
15.  Kyle Busch            Toyota       267
16.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Chevrolet    267
17.  Paul Menard           Ford         267
18.  Ryan Newman           Chevrolet    267
19.  Denny Hamlin          Toyota       267
20.  Martin Truex Jr       Toyota       267
21.  Regan Smith           Chevrolet    267
22.  Scott Speed           Toyota       266
23.  David Ragan           Ford         266
24.  Travis Kvapil         Ford         265
25.  A.J. Allmendinger     Ford         265
26.  Brad Keselowski       Dodge        265
27.  Elliott Sadler        Ford         265
28.  Sam Hornish Jr        Dodge        264
29.  Dave Blaney           Toyota       264
30.  David Gilliland       Ford         263
31.  Brian Vickers         Toyota       262
32.  Robby Gordon          Toyota       262
33.  Max Papis             Toyota       262
34.  Jamie McMurray        Chevrolet    260
35.  Kurt Busch            Dodge        259
36.  Kevin Conway          Ford         256
37.  Juan Montoya          Chevrolet    247
38.  Bobby Labonte         Chevrolet    216
39.  Mike Bliss            Chevrolet    135
40.  Boris Said            Ford         134
41.  Joe Nemechek          Toyota        65
42.  Michael McDowell      Toyota        40
43.  Aric Almirola         Chevrolet     23

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