Sunoco Pit Move of the Race: Fontana

FONTANA, Calif. -- It got lost in all the talk of gas mileage at Fontana, but Jeff Gordon's crew gave him valuable distance from a pesky Kasey Kahne on the final pit stop.

Gordon and Kahne were running nose-to-tail when the final round of pit stops occurred with 53 laps to go.

VIDEO CLIPS Gordon cruises to victory as others run out of fuel Play video

Kahne had been bugging Gordon for much of the second half of the event, and the two were poised to fight it out on the final round of stops.

Only it didn't work out for Kahne. Gordon's crew shot him out of the pits in just 14 seconds on the final stop -- easily beating Kahne -- and when the pit cycles were complete, Gordon had a 2.25 second lead.

ALSO  Past pit moves

"I knew we had one more pit stop to go and that we'd be close on fuel on all those things," Gordon said. "We had a great stop and I was shocked to see myself pulling away from him. I was just on cruise control."

	Jeff Gordon had just enough gas to get to the finish line Sunday. Credit: Autostock

As it turned out, Gordon needed that cushion. Although Kahne's car quickly lost its muscle because of a tight condition, a hard-charging Bobby Labonte nearly caught him.

Labonte got within several car lengths, but gas became an issue on the No. 18 Chevrolet, leaving Gordon with an easy 12-second victory.

"We weren't the best car," Gordon said. "We weren't really one of the top five after yesterday in practice. But these guys just dialed it in."