by Lee Spencer

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Although Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. (146) and Jimmie Johnson (135) led more laps than Gordon (90), the ability to skillfully maneuver through traffic — once he dropped to the 33rd position following a wreck on Lap 59 and an insurance stop on Lap 72 — to take the lead again on Lap 269 was nothing short of miraculous. Gordon schooled his opponents in Patience 101.

Had it not been for the No. 11 crew's pit strategy and a set of tires that Gordon referred to as "the worse tires I've ever had on my car in my life" that were put on the No. 24 for the final 109 circuits, it might have been a different driver celebrating in Victory Lane on Sunday.

"We had such an awesome race car the first half of the race," said Gordon, who climbed from 14th to ninth in the point standings. "I promise you, if we had to do that the second half of the race, it wouldn't have gone so well. I'm real proud of that. That was a great effort.

"It came down to pit strategy and Denny and those guys definitely did the right strategy. I don't know my car just would never go on that last set, last two sets. It was a handful, Junior got by me and I was just trying to hold on and all of a sudden it started coming to me a little bit. Luckily, there was a real long run there and I was able to get by the 99 and the 31 and make a great effort out of it. I'm just real proud of this (team). They worked hard, we had a great car."

Despite winning the pole, Gordon predicted that Hamlin, who shared the front row, would be a handful on Sunday. He was right. The native Virginian exhibited his own style of heroics after he nailed the commitment line on Lap 215 while leading the race and was forced to pit. Hamlin restarted the race 19th on Lap 219 and had moved up to fifth before the final pit stop of the day.

Realizing that tires weren't a factor after running the Craftsman Truck race on Saturday, the team opted for a gas only stop on Lap 390. The No. 11 Camry rolled off pit road first, ahead of Gordon but behind Jeff Burton, Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards and Casey Mears, who all elected not to pit. In 37 laps, Hamlin picked off the four competitors, took the point on Lap 427 and with the longest green flag run of the day held the lead to the finish.

"Finally," Hamlin said. "The curse is over, I hope. We had such bad luck over these last two weeks. It finally feels good to come here and get a win in front of the hometown fans. I can't wait. This is a sign of things to come, I believe.

"It's very emotional. You don't come here that often and have opportunities to win races and I felt like we've been very close here in the past. We've run second and third and just not had the car to win at the end. We timed it perfectly. We got to the front when it counted and made the right adjustments to the car. This was definitely not a race-winning car when we started this race, but Mike Ford did a great job of adjusting on it and every on the team never gave up. Finally, back in Victory Lane."

Hamlin not only ended a 24-race winless drought, but he vaulted from 15th to eighth in the point standings. Most importantly, Hamlin has the one trophy he waited for all of his life — the Ridgeway grandfather clock.

"I don't have a place, but I'll probably put it back home in Virginia — that's where it belongs," said Hamlin, who grew up in Chesterfield outside of Richmond. "Probably in the house I grew up in.

"I remember sitting there many times wondering if I would ever get one. Now that I have one, I will be putting it there."

Burton sounds off against rookie

With consecutive top five finishes — including his victory at Bristol two weekends ago — Jeff Burton has taken the lead in the championship standings for the first time since he entered the fall Martinsville race in 2006.

However, he might have had something more for race winner Denny Hamlin had it not been for Michael McDowell, who made his Sprint Cup debut at Martinsville on Sunday.

Burton took over the lead after Jeff Gordon pitted on Lap 390 and maintained it until Hamlin passed him 37 circuits later. Burton attempted to stay close to Hamlin, but couldn't get around the lapped-down car of McDowell.

"We conserved a bit when we were leading there," said Burton, who finished third. "We got out front and once we got going, I didn't have enough rear grip to burn fuel, so we actually started coming back. I ran the 11 back down and I thought we were going to be in pretty good shape, but that kid in the double-zero car, he, um, needs to learn some manners or he is going to get taught. He can choose to do it the way he wants to, the hard way or the easy way, but one way or another he'll get taught."

McDowell, 23, inherited the No. 00 Camry this week after David Reutimann replaced the retired Dale Jarrett in the No. 44. He qualified 34th and said his goal was "to go out and earn respect," but he was in the 26th position — three laps down — when the jousting with Burton began.

"We're all racing for spots and the No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine was really good," McDowell said. "I was trying to gain a few spots and we're trying to keep the car in the top 35. The 11 got by and we were able to hang with him for four or five laps. Once the 31 put a nose underneath, I let him go.

"I'm sorry if I held him up. It wasn't my intention, but I was racing the 28 (Travis Kvapil) and the 16 (Greg Biffle) at the time. ... I made a few mistakes out there today, I'm sure, but by no means was I trying to hold the 31 up."

McDowell gained two positions to move the No. 00 up to 25th in owner points.

As a result of the positive results coming from the No. 00 team this season, sponsor Aaron's agreed to add five additional races to its Sprint Cup buy following the Bristol Cup race.

Speed's learning curve accelerated

Former open-wheel driver Scott Speed's transition to stock cars — and trucks — showed additional promise at Martinsville, where the 25-year-old finished 10th Saturday in his second career NASCAR Craftsman Truck start.

Speed, who is under contract to Red Bull, tested in an ARCA car last week at Rockingham Speedway and will test again with the Eddie Sharp-owned equipment this week at Iowa and Kansas. So far, Red Bull Racing GM Jay Frye is impressed by Speed's progress.

"His knowledge, understanding and ability to communicate with the team have been striking," Frye said. "We were very pleased with his performance at Martinsville. We want to get Scott as much seat time as possible."

Red Bull is being careful not to push Speed too fast, as was likely the case with A.J. Allmendinger, who has been sidelined since failing to qualify for the first three races of the season. Mike Skinner has been subbing since Atlanta, but Allmendinger could be back in the No. 84 Camry as early as Phoenix in two weeks.

Swaybar-gate shelved — for now

What started out as a thundering roar appears to be nothing more than a sputtering whimper.

Less than 48 hours after Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush spoke about the discovery of the 'theft' of one of his team's swaybars last season, team legal counsel Geoff Smith says that any further action against Michael Waltrip Racing, the team that admitted to accidentally getting the piece, is not pending as long as RFR believes that the company did not copy the sway bar.

"When Jack says it's lawyer time, that's when Geoff Smith has to go handle it," Smith said. "We had originally received assurances from Michael's organization that the part was never used or there wasn't any engineering exercise built around that part. They didn't actually get the part duplicated.

"The parts manufacturer asked for the engineering drawings cause that would show that they independently came up with the design criteria and specifications and that wasn't done. Unless we have some evidence that the assurances we received were false we have no reason to proceed. There's nothing to sue for. What you sue for in these cases of industrial espionage is where someone gets a hold of something that expedites the advancement of their own technology. That's not allowed in America ... It's one thing to look at something, it's another to go make it. If you can cut six months and a couple hundred thousand dollars off of your development time and cost it would create an unfair competitive advantage. "

Smith added that RFR took the assurances of MWR's ownership and their lawyers that "this was an isolated incident that never got turned into an engineering project" and it would be easy for the company to determine otherwise.

"More than likely," Smith said. "It's over."