Overdrive for Gordon

Jeff Gordon won the first Daytona 507 1/2 on Sunday as a couple of late accidents forced him to work overtime in what will go into the record books as Gordon’s third Daytona 500 win.

For most of a long race -- nearly four hours -- that lasted so late that the lights were turned on at Daytona International Speedway, Gordon bided his time by running nose to tail with an aggressive Tony Stewart in a duel of Chevrolets until a final restart with six laps remained in the regulation 200 laps.

Stewart led for 107 laps but never could shake the persistent Gordon, with Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Scott Riggs, and in the final laps a late-charging Dale Earnhardt Jr., racing in line behind him.

The stage for a wild six-car shootout on the 2.5-mile tri-oval was set when a nine-car accident in the second turn of Lap 189 brought out the yellow flag for the 10th time. No one was injured in the closest thing to a “big one” the 47th annual race had, but Scott Wimmer took a spectacular ride that saw his Dodge catapult into the air and do a barrel roll into the infield grass, where it did a pirouette on its nose.

“I had the best restart I ever had, but before I could get by Tony, the 8 car [Earnhardt] came out of nowhere and got by him first,” Gordon said. “Junior looked so strong I didn’t know if we could get by him, but the 48 [teammate Johnson] gave a me big push down the back straight and it gave me the momentum to get past him.”

Two laps from the end, another caution flag came out when Kasey Kahne brushed the wall. Because of a new NASCAR rule called “green-white-checkered” to prevent finishing under a yellow flag, the race was extended three laps beyond its 200.

This time it was Gordon in charge, and despite some desperate moves by Busch that got him second place, the lead never changed and Gordon had another Daytona 500 win to go with those he got in 1997 and 1999.

“I wanted to take Gordon on the outside going into [turn] three, but nobody would go with me and we didn’t have the momentum to carry it through, so I had to follow him in,” said Busch, the defending Nextel Cup champion. “To come from fourth to second on the green-white-checkered we had to run with the 10 car [Riggs], we had to block him after he pushed us past the 48 and the 8.

“It was kind of lonely out there in a Ford surrounded by all those Chevys. I got a lot of help from Riggs but not enough to clear Gordon, so I just held the bottom groove.”

Earnhardt finished third, Riggs fourth and Johnson fifth, all in Chevrolets.

The spectacular last few laps had an estimated 225,000 people on their feet, screaming for their favorites.

Stewart was shuffled back in the last few laps and was dropped to seventh.

“It’s hard leading sometimes like that,” Stewart said. “I think we ran about as good as a race as we possibly could. At least we had a car that was good enough to lead laps.”

Stewart was the halfway leader, but that should have been an omen for him of trouble to come. Not since Davey Allison in 1992, 13 races ago, has the leader after 100 been the leader after 200, or 203, as they ran Sunday.

“You know, all day long I was working on Tony,” Gordon said. “I was on his bumper, pushing him not hard, not a slam, but pushing him, just trying to do anything I could to shake him and rattle him. But it just didn’t work.”

Two old-timers, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace, had strong runs in what they say was their final Daytona 500. Martin, who was in the mix with Stewart, Gordon and Busch late in the race, finished sixth and Wallace 10th.

Martin’s Taurus was badly damaged in Thursday’s Gatorade Duel, but the crew worked around the clock to fix it in time for the race.

“We had an awesome car,” Martin said. “I was sitting there [on a restart] thinking we might have a shot to contend for this thing, then I let Gordon get up on the inside of me. I just didn’t have myself in the right position at the right time.”

For a few laps, Martin and Wallace were running together, two old friends who had swapped paint for 30 years.

“Rusty and I had a pact,” Martin said. “We knew this would be our last shot and I would’ve helped him at the end and he would help me. I figured he was probably the most loyal friend I had on the racetrack at the end of the race.”

Gordon collected $1,474,466 for the win, the 70th of his career, and he became only the fifth driver to win three or more Daytona 500s. He joined Dale Jarrett and Bobby Allison with three each. Richard Petty has seven and Cale Yarborough four.

“This one was sweeter than the first two because I am more aware of what an awesome place this is and what it takes to win even one Daytona 500,” Gordon said. “It is also extra sweet because I was embarrassed after not getting the pole. We came down here expecting to be on the pole or at least the front row, so today was especially gratifying.”

Jarrett, the pole-sitter with a qualifying speed of 188.312 mph, had problems with his Ford from the first lap and finished 15th.

“They were running over me,” Jarrett said. “[Earnhardt] knocked me off the racetrack early in the race because [my car] wouldn’t run at the end of the straightaway. We finally got to where I could drive, but it was just so frustrating because it wouldn’t go. On restarts they would just run over me.”

For the first 170 laps the race was remarkably incident-free for a restrictor-plate race in which a number of cars often race together in a tight bunch. Two late accidents sidelined five cars, but there were 24 cars on the last lap when Gordon took the checkered flag.

The next Nextel Cup race is the Auto Club 500 on Sunday at California Speedway.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Top Finishers

*--* Driver Car 1. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 2. Kurt Busch Ford 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 4. Scott Riggs Chevrolet 5. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet

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WINNERS

Year -- Driver

2005 -- Jeff Gordon

2004 -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2003 -- Michael Waltrip

2002 -- Ward Burton

2001 -- Michael Waltrip

2000 -- Dale Jarrett

1999 -- Jeff Gordon

1998 -- Dale Earnhardt

1997 -- Jeff Gordon

1996 -- Dale Jarrett

1995 -- Sterling Marlin

1994 -- Sterling Marlin

1993 -- Dale Jarrett

1992 -- Davey Allison

1991 -- Ernie Irvan

1990 -- Derrike Cope

1989 -- Darrell Waltrip

1988 -- Bobby Allison

1987 -- Bill Elliott

1986 -- Geoff Bodine

1985 -- Bill Elliott

1984 -- Cale Yarborough

1983 -- Cale Yarborough

1982 -- Bobby Allison

1981 -- Richard Petty

1980 -- Buddy Baker

1979 -- Richard Petty

1978 -- Bobby Allison

1977 -- Cale Yarborough

1976 -- David Pearson

1975 -- Benny Parsons

1974 -- Richard Petty

1973 -- Richard Petty

1972 -- A.J. Foyt

1971 -- Richard Petty

1970 -- Pete Hamilton

1969 -- Lee Roy Yarbrough

1968 -- Cale Yarborough

1967 -- Mario Andretti

1966 -- Richard Petty

1965 -- Fred Lorenzen

1964 -- Richard Petty

1963 -- Tiny Lund

1962 -- Fireball Roberts

1961 -- Marvin Panch

1960 -- Junior Johnson

1959 -- Lee Petty