Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove the majority of the race without a right-front fender. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Junior, Gordon finish strong after early woes

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Tony Eury Jr. had the best description for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car on Sunday.

"That's a battle wagon out there," the crew chief said to his driver.

Credit: Autostock

Official Results DirecTV 500 Pos. Driver Make 1. T. Stewart Chevy 2. J. Gordon Chevy 3. J. Johnson Chevy 4. D. Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 5. Kyle Busch Chevy • Complete results, click here • Driver standings, click here Victory LaneTony Stewart celebrates his win in the DirecTV 500 Final LapsStewart, Johnson and Gordon battle in the final laps Finding the wallBiffle and Burton suffer heavy damage after wrecks Early cautionJunior, Robby caught up in a multi-car wreck on Lap 2 Making a comebackJeff Gordon rallies to finish second at Martinsville Good teammatesJimmie Johnson explains how Gordon helped his Martinsville car setup Race RewindWatch a condensed version of the DirecTV 500 in Martinsville! Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Missing its right-front fender, the No. 8 Chevy's front tire was exposed to all of Martinsville's elements -- rocks, debris, other drivers' fenders -- but it didn't matter, as Earnhardt overcame two accidents to lock in a fourth-place finish.

"Good job today, guys, good work," Earnhardt said to his crew over his radio just after the checkered flag waved on the DirecTV 500. "You guys are awesome."

Jeff Gordon was singing the same song about his team and the way it rebounded from an early altercation.

Gordon, a seven-time winner at Martinsville and the hot-topic of discussion all week leading up to the race -- for various reasons -- carried a lot of clout entering the speedway. He swept last season's events here, and he'd won four of the last six at the .526-mile short track.

But when he cut a tire on Lap 90 going through Turns 3 and 4, glimpses of a third consecutive victory were vanished -- for the time being.

The debris brought out the race's third caution. No panic, though.

"When my tire blew, that instantly sent a message to me that I need to be a little less aggressive," Gordon said. "It was pretty much my fault. I was racing with Kasey Kahne at the time, and he had a good car. I recognized I was over-driving the car. Then we got tight and boom, it blew."

Gordon was conscious enough to duck onto pit road immediately after the problem, balking at the fact that pit road was closed.

Good decision. Despite the ensuing penalty from NASCAR because he'd entered pit road as it was closed, he stayed on the lead lap during the caution.

"We got lucky," he said. "We got real lucky. When and where it happened, we could've gotten in the wall and we could've gone a lap down."

The cut tire didn't do any body damage, and once Gordon got his machine inside the top 10, he didn't fall out of it.

By Lap 345, he had sliced his way to fourth, just behind Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch.

On Lap 483 he caught and loosened Johnson, who'd been dominant all day, to take second. But after the red flag on Lap 493 for Matt Kenseth's crash, Gordon had nothing for Stewart on the final restart and held on for a second-place finish.

"I thought, 'We got a shot at this thing,'" he said. "I drove down in [Turn 1] and couldn't hold it. Then I was just trying to hang on."

But for Earnhardt, the bad-day-turned-good wasn't that easy.

"It drove great all day," Earnhardt said with a laugh. "I couldn't hurt it. We bounced off a lot of things, but it continued to drive straight.

"I remember Harry Gant winning a race with a car that sort of looked like that."

Earnhardt's trouble started, nearly, at the drop of the green flag. With a lap under their belts and the tightly wound 43-car field barreling two-wide into Turns 1 and 2, too many cars went in, not enough came out.

Six cars wadded up in the middle of Turn 2, and Earnhardt's front bumper collected some damage, forcing the crew to cut the entire right-front fender off the car while keeping Earnhardt on the lead lap.

The aero-nightmare gave the No. 8 Chevrolet a bump in speed, but the bad dream continued on Lap 316 after he'd worked his way all the way to the fourth position.

Ryan Newman was in the second groove, but it appeared he came down heading through Turns 3 and 4. Earnhardt, trying to avoid getting hit, clipped the curb, smacked the inside wall and left a crumpled left-front fender to finish off his car's nose.

Damage was minimal at first, although the pit stop dropped him to 18th on the restart. A hundred laps later he was flirting with the top 10. The curb-hopping initially appeared to damage the balance of his car, but as the race progressed, it got better.

"This was a fun race, man," Earnhardt said. "We kept on coming back. We knew we were putting on a good show."