Gordon takes rain-delayed Atlanta Sprint Cup race

Jeff Gordon scored a landmark victory in the rain-delayed Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the second-to-last race before the Chase for the Sprint Cup starts.

The win is Gordon's 85th, which broke a tie with Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison at 84 for the third-most victories all-time in NASCAR's Cup division.

Gordon held off Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson over the last 10 laps, the pair slipping and sliding to maintain grip on 40-lap-old tires as the track had had a rain delay after 200 laps. Gordon dominated with 146 laps led of 325.

“I feel rejuvenated,” Gordon said. “He was slipping, I was slipping. I knew I had a bit of breathing room when he got loose off (Turn) 4 with two to go.

“We used it up there in the end,” Gordon said about the final laps. “The track really changed a lot after that rain delay. Our car was real, real tight and we had to free it up. I was just trying to keep a distance between me and Jimmie, because I knew I had to manage the tires a little bit. But, boy, did it get loose, when it got loose it fell off in a big way – it nearly came around – and Jimmie just drove it really straight and drove me clean. I could hear his wheels spinning and revs pick up when he was underneath me – that forced me to pick mine up and spin a little bit. A couple of times I slipped up and let him get underneath me, but somehow we kept the momentum and was able to stay on the outside of him. I think having that outside lane in [turns] One and Two was a bonus for us.”

Johnson was almost as jubilant about his second place.

"Man, that is what racing is all about," declared the Sprint Cup champ. "That was a lot of fun. I am grateful that I got to grow up racing off-road trucks and buggies, because I was dead sideways those last probably 10 or 15 laps there trying to get by him. Just great hard racing.

"The run before, I took off and I think burned my tires off the car and he caught me and passed me and went on. So that run, I tried not to run my tires off at the beginning. I was slowly catching him, but getting by him was a different thing. He was really strong all day long, so I have him a ton of credit and his team. Happy to see a Hendrick car in victory lane. My Lowe's boys did an awesome job, though. We just started off pretty bad and made some great adjustments on the car and made it very competitive and almost had a shot at winning this thing."

Gordon's crew chief Alan Gustafson was especially proud of the team's performance at Atlanta due to the fact that 1.5-mile tracks make up a large percentage of the venues in the upcoming Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“This was one of the racetracks we felt to be an elite team and contend for the title; we had to do well on this style of track,” Gustafson said. “I'm pleased to do that.”

Johnson's second place took him ahead of Kyle Busch for the Sprint Cup standings, although those will reshuffle after Richmond on Saturday night. Tony Stewart, in need of a solid result, finished a strong third which takes the pressure off his team one week ahead of the cut for the final 10 championship races. Behind him, Penske's Kurt Busch was fourth and clinched a spot in the Chase as did his teammate Brad Keselowski with a sixth-place finish.

Tony Stewart, in need of a solid result, finished a strong third which takes the pressure off his team one week ahead of the cut for the final 10 championship races. Behind him, Penske's Kurt Busch was fourth and clinched a spot in the Chase as did his teammate Brad Keselowski with a sixth-place finish.

Stewart's teammate Ryan Newman was 20th at the flag, just the result he needed to secure a place in the championship battle as well.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to rank 10th in the standings following a lackluster showing, finishing only 19th ahead of Newman. However his closest challenger for a top-ten spot, Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, ended up against the barrier following contact with Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya, thus easing the pressure on the Hendrick driver in the point standings.

Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards looked potential contenders for victory. Kenseth in particular led the race for 63 laps. Although his pit stops once again proved the class of the field, his team didn't fare as well in the decisive four-tire changes.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin was eighth and continues to hold on to the final wild card entry, while his teammate Kyle Busch who led early on and was leading the points entering Tuesday's race, suffered with his car's balance after hitting the barrier in the first half of the race.

The race had to be interrupted twice due to rain, including a 24-minute red-flag period but eventually the scheduled distance was completed after four hours of running.