Earnhardt Gambles and Easily Defeats Johnson

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gambled on tires and fuel and made it pay off Saturday night in Richmond, Va., outrunning Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte over the last 45 laps for his third victory of the season.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series points leader took the lead when Tony Stewart and most of the other contenders pitted for tires and fuel with 54 laps to go in the Chevy American Revolution 400.

Earnhardt made the move look brilliant, gradually building a lead of more than three seconds and beating Johnson by 1.481 seconds.

Earnhardt, who led five times for 115 laps, extended his points lead from 25 points to 40 over Johnson. Labonte finished third, and Stewart was fourth, giving Chevrolet the top four spots. Matt Kenseth was fifth in a Ford.

Earnhardt, Johnson and Jeff Gordon stayed out when Stewart, as the leader, and the rest of the contenders surprisingly headed for the pits when Scott Riggs’ blown engine brought out the ninth caution on Lap 345.

Earnhardt quickly showed it was a good call when he took off on the restart with 45 laps to go with Johnson second, Gordon third, Stewart fourth and Bobby Labonte fifth -- all having broken from the field.

Gordon was the first to falter, sliding up the track in the fourth turn only four laps into the green flag run, but he lost only one spot while Labonte sneaked inside Stewart for third at about the same time.

Earnhardt’s lead was 1 1/2 seconds over Johnson and Labonte with 25 laps to go, while Stewart seemed to be slowly fading from contention. It never mattered as Earnhardt pulled away.

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Three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Jack Sprague will start from the pole today in the UAW/GM Ohio 250 after qualifying was canceled because of rain.

Sprague got the top starting spot in the 36-truck field at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway as the driver of the 2003 champion truck, a Chevrolet Silverado.

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Greg Pursley earned his third victory of the season, winning the 75-lap Lucas Oil Super Late Model Series feature at Irwindale Speedway.

Pursley started the race on the pole and had no trouble taking an early lead through the first half of the race until a caution reset the field.

After the restart, he easily pulled away from Tony Bruncati, who finished second.

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Correspondent Tony Solorzano contributed to this report.