FORT WORTH, Texas -- Two Hendrick Motorsports teammates used the same strategy at the end of Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway, but with very different results. Jeff Gordon parlayed a fuel gamble into a second-place finish, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was left running on fumes.

Winner Carl Edwards wasn't the only one who tried to stretch his final fuel run in the Dickies 500. Gordon and Earnhardt, who both rallied from a lap down to get back into contention on the 1.5-mile racetrack, each used the same tactic to get to the front. It worked for Gordon, who's still winless on the season, but tied his best finish of the year with the runner-up result. Earnhardt, though, ran out of fuel with five laps remaining, stalled his No. 88 car when he ducked onto pit road for gasoline, and finished in 20th place.

“

I know it's late in the season, we haven't won yet, but that doesn't mean we're laying down.

”

JEFF GORDON

"I told [crew chief] Tony Eury Jr., you know, don't worry about that," Earnhardt said of the failed gambit. "We all tried to win the race, and we win as a team and lose as a team. We need to figure out the fuel mileage deal because Jeff Gordon stayed out as well, and just figure out what we need to do. We probably just should have started saving a little bit earlier."

Edwards set the standard, feathering his throttle to the checkered flag to complete a 69-lap, race-ending fuel run that gave him his eighth victory of the season and trimmed Jimmie Johnson's championship lead to 106 points. But it felt like a win for Gordon, who finished second for the first time since Martinsville in March. It looked bleak early for the Texas pole winner, when Edwards' relentless pace at the front put one car after another a lap down, Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet included. Eventually Gordon was in position to receive a free pass back onto the lead lap -- Earnhardt did the same -- and make a bid for the front.

"Real proud of [crew chief] Steve Letarte and all the guys on this team for not giving up," Gordon said. "We struggled. We were good when we were out front at the beginning, and fell back to fifth, and we just kept trying to free it up through the middle. One time I got too loose and lost all the track position, lost a lap. We had to fight our way back to get on the lead lap. I give them a lot of credit for being patient with everything all day, and Steve Letarte for making that great call to come in and not only work on the car but get as much fuel in it as we could and go for it there at the end."

Gordon believes the free pass helped him in more ways than one. The caution that let him back on the lead lap was caused by a Juan Montoya accident that closed pit road, because the crippled No. 42 car was left blocking a part of it. As the field coasted under yellow, Gordon was able to save fuel that he'd need in the end. (Continued)