by Lee Spencer

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Not surprisingly, defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson answered with his 34th career win in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday night — his second-consecutive win at the one-miler.

After winning half of last season's 36 races, Hendrick Motorsports only flirted with wins during the first seven races of this year. But given the No. 48 team's past success at PIR — eight top 10s in 10 races — Johnson was confident enough to gamble on gas mileage with eight laps remaining in the 312-mile event.

"I ran out of gas on the backstretch," said Johnson, who climbed two positions to fourth in the championship standings. "We are back and we have all been working very hard to get back. I couldn't be more proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, wish Rick was here. I was just talking to him on the phone.

"There isn't a group of people that work harder and I am so proud of my guys and everyone associated with the Lowe's team. This car was awesome tonight. We got off (pit stop) cycle and got a little behind there and had to drive to the front and still ended up saving enough gas to make it."

Johnson last pitted with the leaders during the caution period on Lap 230 and restarted seventh. Over the course of the final 82 circuits, each of the drivers ahead of Johnson dropped off the track for fuel while the No. 48 elected to stay the course. When Mark Martin, who led 30 of his 68 laps during the last green-flag run, hit pit road on Lap 302, Johnson took the lead for the fourth and final time.

Despite crew chief Chad Knaus' desire to pit on Lap 304, Johnson elected to run for the win. With the decision made, Knaus radioed to his driver to "slow it down, slow it way down". As the white flag fell, Knaus instructed Johnson to "put it in neutral".

"We're going to win this (expletive)," Johnson said on the final lap, which he ran in a lengthy 31.19-seconds as he maintained a 7.002-second lead over Clint Bowyer. Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Martin rounded out the top five.

Johnson wasn't the only dominant Hendrick car. Although he led the most laps (120), his teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. was at the point three times for a total of 87 circuits but battled Mark Martin, tires and a tight condition through most of the second half of the race.

"I am not frustrated," said Earnhardt, who moved up to third in points with his seventh-place result. "(We) had a good finish, proud of my team, had a great car. I don't know what our expectations truly were going in to the race. But I don't think they were that good. I don't know if we could have made it. I don't know when we stopped, or how much I was burning a lap. I can't do the math. I just do what I (was) told. We did the right thing. We can't run out and finish out of the top-10. We did the right thing. Not frustrated though.

"It was like someone flipped a switch there at the end and the tires were gone. So we sort of lost a little bit there, but I am proud of my guys. Great adjustments, we got another solid finish and Hendrick comes home with a win, so pretty happy. Just ready to recharge our batteries, got a lot of racing to go."

Casey Mears and Jeff Gordon finished 11th and 13th, respectively.

DEI SCORES DOUBLE TOP 10s

Mark Martin scored his first top five of the season — the second consecutive top 10 for the No. 8 Army Chevrolet — in what appeared to be the sportiest car as the Subway 500 wound down. Martin's battle with Dale Earnhardt Jr. was textbook as he conserved his equipment and raced skillfully enough to stay on the No. 88 until the car went away.

And it appeared that Martin would end his 85-race winless drought until he sacrificed the point on Lap 302 for fuel.

"We just about pulled this one off tonight," Martin said. "We had a great, great car. We changed our strategy right there at the end. I saved a lot of gas, probably a lot more than they knew. We just had such a spectacular car, there at the end of the race, I didn't have to run it hard.

"There were a lot of laps I didn't get the throttle wide open on the straightaway. You can't stop if somebody else stays out. It is a privilege to drive for these guys. I want them to keep their chins up because we can win some of these races."

Teammate Martin Truex Jr.'s car was not nearly as stout as Martin's due to a souring engine. However, he competed in the top 10 throughout the entire race until the No. 1 Chevrolet was sent to the tail end of the longest line after getting stuck on pit road when the caution flag waved on Lap 113. Nevertheless, Truex fought his way back into the top 10 and finished eighth. He also advance to 14th in the point standings.

"We struggled with the engine a little bit missing, all day, especially coming off the corners," said Truex, who scored his second top 10 of the season. "Then we experienced some problems with some wear on the right tire. We threw everything we had at the car, track bar adjustments, wedge adjustments and everything and I thought we had it pretty good there at the end. Just ran out of laps."

WOULDA, COULDA CARL

Carl Edwards qualified third but could never get around Jimmie Johnson or polesitter Ryan Newman in the early laps of Saturday's Sprint Cup race.

Edwards pitted from the second-place position on Lap 112 — one circuit before Joe Nemechek created the third caution of the night after losing control of his car in Turn 2. With leaders pitting during the caution, Edwards should have been in decent shape, but was black-flagged for having too many men over the wall after the right front tire changer jumped too early. Edwards was forced to line up 34th — tail end of the longest line — for the restart on Lap 122. Thirteen laps later, the No. 99 crew executed a two-tire stop, helping Edwards climb to 30th. By Lap 185 had moved up to 15th.

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin waged war for the point with 60 laps to go, Edwards circumvented traffic and broke back into the top 10. With just 20 laps remaining, Edwards passed Kevin Harvick for the fifth-place but was forced to pit for fuel only on Lap 304. In four laps, Edwards cycled back into the top five and salvaged fourth-place — his fourth top five of the season.

"I don't know that I've ever passed that many cars at a race track ever," Edwards said. "The car was really good, but we just got some setbacks there, one penalty and one tire got loose.

"We passed a lot of cars and then we just had a problem in the pits, got a penalty. We came back quickly, though. Everything fell into place, (crew chief) Robbie (Reiser) made some great calls, but then we had another bad pit stop, and that set us back. But to come out of here fourth with all the trouble we had tonight, that's a blessing. I'm not going to complain too much about that."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"We really fought all night. I don't want to say that these cars don't drive good because they can drive better. My car just didn't drive good tonight, so I just don't want to (tick) Carl Edwards off. We just didn't do the best job that we could do. We came here and tested and were awful."
— Bobby Labonte, who went from having his hood up on pit road to becoming the top Dodge finisher in the event (12th overall).