Gordon picked up his fourth victory on the 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course, winning for the third time from the pole. It also extended his own Nextel Cup record for road racing wins to eight and gave him three for the season and 67 for his career.

"We've had some bad finishes lately and we wanted this one real bad," said Gordon, who got out of his No. 24 Chevrolet soaked with sweat and just about spent after leading 92 of 110 laps on a hot afternoon at the scenic wine country circuit.

"I drove out and got as big a lead as I could and gave a lot of it up there at the end," said Gordon, who had his overheated driver's seat iced down during his last pit stop. "It was real tough." More