RICHMOND, Va. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. gambled on tires and fuel and made it pay off Saturday night, outrunning Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte over the last 45 laps for his third victory of the season.
The Nextel Cup points leader took the lead when Tony Stewart and most other contenders pitted for tires and fuel with 54 laps to go in the Chevy American Revolution 400.
Earnhardt gradually built a lead of more than three seconds and beat Johnson by 1.481 seconds.
"It was a great race car, just had a great long-run setup on it," Earnhardt said.
The victory was his second at Richmond International Raceway and the 12th overall for the five-year veteran.
Earnhardt led five times for 115 laps and extended his points lead from 25 to 40 over Johnson through 11 races.
Labonte finished third and Stewart 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.
"It was loose on new tires, so pitting wasn't even an option," Earnhardt said.
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 Labonte fifth - all having broken from the field.
Gordon was the first to falter, sliding up the track in Turn 4 just four laps into the green flag run, but he lost just one spot while Labonte sneaked inside Stewart for third at about the same time.
Earnhardt's lead was 11/2 seconds over Johnson and Labonte with 25 laps to go as Stewart seemed to slowly fade from contention.
Earlier, Michael Waltrip and Stewart engaged in one of the longest, closest duels, with Stewart keeping his Chevrolet on Waltrip's tail for more than 20 laps, unable to get by until Waltrip wiggled on Lap 250.
Stewart sailed by and quickly built a lead of more than three seconds as Waltrip eventually yielded second to Earnhardt. Once Earnhardt took the spot, he started reeling in the leader in lapped traffic until a series of green flag pit stops jumbled the field to set up the finish.
