Gordon Makes This Victory Look Easy

Jeff Gordon overpowered the rest of the field Sunday, completing a season sweep of the two NASCAR Winston Cup races at Martinsville Speedway.

The victory in the caution-filled Subway 500 was the 63rd of Gordon’s career but only his second of the season. The four-time series champion led 313 of the 500 laps in his Chevrolet on the half-mile oval in Martinsville, Va.

Jimmie Johnson, Gordon’s protege and Hendrick Motorsports teammate, started 26th and lost more ground when he spun out early in the race, but came back to finish second.

It was a typical short track race, with plenty of bumping and banging that produced 15 caution flags and a record 117 laps run under yellow.

Gordon led the final 205 laps, easily pulling away on each of a series of restarts and staying out of trouble on the narrow track.

Johnson trailed Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet across the finish line by 1.036-seconds -- about five car-lengths.

Tony Stewart finished third in a Chevrolet, just ahead of the Chevrolet of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who appeared to have the second-best car through most of the race.

The key moment of the day came on Lap 405 under caution when Earnhardt, running a close second to Gordon and applying plenty of pressure on the leader, pitted for new tires.

None of the leaders needed any more gas to get to the end, but Gordon said he too was thinking about pitting for fresh tires.

Robbie Loomis, Gordon’s crew chief, told him to come in if Earnhardt did.

Series leader Matt Kenseth, who came into the race with a 267-point margin over Kevin Harvick and 324 over Earnhardt, finished 13th and saw his lead over Harvick cut to 240 points with four races remaining.

Earnhardt remained third, but reduced his margin to 283 points going into Sunday’s Georgia 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

*

In his first competitive race since losing both legs in a crash in a CART race in Germany two years ago, Alex Zanardi was involved in a six-car pileup in the first race of the closing event of the FIA European Touring Car Championship at Monza, Italy.

Then he finished seventh in the second race on the Monza circuit, coming back from an eighth-row start.

Driving a specially modified BMW, the former Formula One driver said he wanted to show he could race competitively again.

More than 30,000 fans crowded the track, and hundreds mobbed Zanardi for autographs before the race.

Zanardi operated the car’s accelerator and clutch, which are attached to the steering wheel, and used his thigh to apply special brakes.

In the first race, Zanardi started from the sixth row following his 11th place in qualifying. He was caught in a pileup of six cars at the first curve, ending the race after about a half-mile.