Jeff Gordon Wins 6th Time at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. April 11, 2005; Hank Kurz writing for the AP reported that Jeff Gordon showed that he might be the new king of short-track racing Sunday, coming from three laps down early on to win his sixth NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.

Fourth on a restart with 46 laps to go, Gordon wasted no time.

He followed Mark Martin past Ryan Newman on the 461st lap, went underneath Martin to move into second place three laps later and passed Sterling Marlin for the lead with 34 laps remaining.

From then on, it was smooth sailing to his 71st career victory and second in six races this year. It was his sixth victory at 0.526-mile Martinsville, the shortest and trickiest track in the premier series. Only Rusty Wallace, with seven, has more among active drivers.

For Gordon and all of Hendrick Motorsports, it was an emotional day. The last time the series was at this track, a plane carrying 10 friends and family of the organization crashed nearby, killing everyone on board.

"There's something special about this place and we lost so many incredible people, part of this organization and racing community and I think it's only fitting for us to get this victory," Gordon said after getting a huge embrace from team owner Rick Hendrick in Victory Lane.

"I know how much it means to Rick and his family and all those other families, and it means a lot to this race team," Gordon said.

Hendrick's son, Ricky, was among those killed in the crash.

The only drama for Gordon as he pulled away from the field was getting around defending series champion Kurt Busch, who was running with the leaders with 53 laps remaining until Gordon nudged him into the wall.

Running three laps down, Busch made Gordon work to get around him, even banging into him during side-by-side racing on the front stretch.

Once Gordon got around Busch, though, he was gone, and even the 16th caution flag with less than 10 laps to go didn't hinder him. He pulled away from Kasey Kahne with three laps to go and won by 0.593 seconds.

Gordon's Chevrolet and Kahne's Dodge were followed across the line by Martin's Ford, the Dodge of Newman and Marlin, also in a Dodge.

Early on, Gordon seemed to be out of contention after less than 50 laps. He pitted under a green flag because of a vibration after 47 laps, went three laps down, then lost another lap before beginning to rally.

With the fastest car on the track, Gordon had little trouble beating the leaders to the first turn as the lead lapped car on restarts. By lap 277, he was the "lucky dog," allowing him to go to the tail of the lead lap, where he was already in 18th place and on his way to the front.

The race had a disappointing finish for the Joe Gibbs Racing tandem of Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart, who led for a combined 279 laps.

Labonte was leading when the race came out of a caution with 105 laps to go, but his car suddenly slowed and he faded quickly to mid-pack.

Stewart, who led four times for 247 of the first 389 laps, was running in the top five with 70 laps to go when his car suddenly slowed in the fourth turn. By the time he got into the first turn, everyone found out why: his right front tire came off his Chevrolet and went bounding down the track.

Busch was next in the barrel. He was racing in the top five with 53 laps to go when Jeff Gordon nudged him in turns three and four, spinning Busch's Ford and sending it rear-end first into the outside wall.

The 16 cautions slowed the pace for 91 laps.

Jimmie Johnson, who finished eighth, remained the series leader by 160 points over Greg Biffle, who was 29th. Elliott Sadler finished ninth and moved up two spots to third in the standings, 182 points back.