Jeff Gordon dominated much of the rain-delayed AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Tuesday and then won a duel with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson for his third Sprint Cup Series win of the season.
Gordon held about a 2-second lead with 20 laps remaining, but Johnson, who rallied from early struggles, closed on Gordon’s bumper with 11 laps remaining. He then dogged Gordon over the final 10 laps, trying repeatedly to get by his teammate.
Johnson was slipping and sliding all over the track the final two laps while Gordon held on for the win.
Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.
The win was the 85th of Gordon’s career, moving him out of a tie with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip to third all-time behind Richard Petty (200) and David Pearson (105).
Rain, which had delayed the race by two days, slowed the field to a crawl just past the 200-lap mark. That allowed the leaders to hit pit road, although the intensity of the rain picked up.
That eventually led officials to red flag the race for 24 minutes, 22 seconds.
J.J. Yeley, who had chosen to remain on the track, held the lead while Landon Cassill likewise stayed out and held the second spot during the lengthy delay.
When action resumed, Yeley and Cassill peeled off to make their pit stops, putting Matt Kenseth out front, with Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Johnson and Clint Bowyer moving into first through fifth, respectively.
Barely two laps later, the race was once again halted for wet conditions.
Bowyer’s hopes for making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup took a huge hit when he and Juan Pablo Montoya tangled with less than 100 laps remaining.
“I was tight up off the corner,” Bowyer said. “You can’t race around a jackass; you just can’t.
“He dive-bombs the restarts, and before you know it, he’s in the way up there … I’m just tired of it.”
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