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Richmond, VA (Sports Network) - Jimmie Johnson captured the final race of NASCAR Nextel Cup's "regular" season at the Richmond International Raceway and both Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick clinched the last two positions in the "Chase."
The results mean that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the odd man out, missing the playoffs by 201 points.
The No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver crossed the finish line 3.007 seconds ahead of Stewart and won for the sixth time this season and 29th of his "Cup" career.
"We didn't have the best car until the end," said Johnson. "It was really, really tight on corner entry, but finally we made enough changes and got the car right. It was pretty awesome at the end."
Johnson brought the field to the green flag for a scheduled 400 laps of racing, but by the end of the first lap he had fallen to fifth as his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon took over control of the race.
Gordon led 25 laps until the next caution flag when a two-tire change helped Ryan Newman move to the top of the charts.
Meanwhile, in the race-within-the-race, Harvick slid past Casey Mears into fourth place, well ahead of Busch (14th) and Earnhardt Jr. (21st).
Harvick continued to show he was a contender, passing Johnson for third place at lap 42. Ahead of him was only the No.24 of Gordon and the No.12 of Newman. But third was as high as Harvick got, slipping back over the next few laps behind Johnson and Carl Edwards.
Up front Newman and Gordon maintained the race lead through lap 63 when Scott Riggs blew a right-front tire to bring out caution flag number three. On this caution flag Gordon took over the lead with Johnson second, Newman third and Earnhardt Jr. jumping up to 10th.
As the field passed the 100-lap mark the fastest car on the track was Busch. He cruised around Hamlin and Edwards into third place. But he couldn't get by either Gordon or Johnson, who continued to show the way.
Edwards found the right setup and on lap 166 he passed Gordon for the lead. But he was also complaining to his pit crew that the car "wasn't running right." Apparently Edwards knew what he was talking about because on lap 182 Edwards' engine blew up with a mighty cloud of smoke.
At the mid-point it was Hamlin leading Clint Bowyer by 0.112 seconds. In the "race-with-the race," Earnhardt Jr. was eighth, Harvick 10th and Busch was 12th.
Bowyer tried to pass underneath Hamlin just after the halfway point and the two leaders spun enough to allow Gordon to pass both of them for the lead.
Also just past the halfway mark, Tony Stewart awoke and began a charge towards the front of the field. He got around Johnson for third on lap 211 and teammate Hamlin for second on lap 214.
After another caution flag and a round of pit stops, Gordon beat Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. off pit road on lap 236. Bowyer stayed on the track to inherit the lead with Gordon, Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. just behind.
Bowyer's lead lasted about half-a-lap as Gordon flew around him with his fresh tires. Then a big crash that saw Juan Montoya's No.42 Dodge burst into flames. Busch caught a little of the incident in the left-rear, but it didn't seem to hurt his running too much. Harvick's avoided the accident, but in running through the grass his car air vents got blocked and he began to overheat. The incident seemed to start with Newman spinning and the rest of the cars getting caught up in the smoke.
The race was red-flagged for the accident cleanup, but quickly got back to action. Harvick's pit crew cleaned out the air ducks and he stayed on the lead lap and did Busch.
Stewart was still very fast and dove under Earnhardt Jr. for second place just as Reed Sorenson spun just in front of Harvick to bring out another caution flag.
Stewart latched onto Gordon's rear bumper with 134 laps to go. Three laps later he ducked to the bottom of the track and completed the pass.
Johnson was the leader on lap 300 - just 100 laps to go. In the "race-with- the-race," Earnhardt Jr. was doing well in fourth, but Busch was a solid 11th and Harvick had rebounded from his overheating problems and was 18th.
Johnson, Stewart, Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. led the parade as the laps dwindled. Nobody was getting out of line and they all appeared to be waiting for the final 20 laps to go for the win.
Then Robby Gordon slammed the outside wall after blowing a right-front tire on lap 337 and it gave the leaders on last chance to set their cars for the final shootout.
On the stop, Johnson came in first and left first, but the No.8 DEI crew got "Junior" one spot, into third, behind Gordon, but ahead of Stewart.
John Andretti's car blew up as they were trying to restart the race and looking down in the garage were enough cars to likely clinch a spot for both Busch and Harvick no matter what "Junior" did. Six cars were out of the race and another five cars were more than 20 laps off the leader's pace.
On the restart, Earnhardt Jr, worked his way around Gordon and was just 0.504 seconds behind Johnson. Gordon didn't give up however, and on lap 364 retook second place. While they were battling, Stewart caught up to them and made it a three-way battle behind Johnson. And Stewart cleared both Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. with 25 laps to go and took off after Johnson.
When the field reached lap 380, Busch and Harvick officially clinched their spots in the "Chase" and it was over for "Junior" in 2007. To top it off, Earnhardt Jr.'s engine blew with six laps to go and he was forced to coast into his pit box. He finished 30th.
"I'm disappointed we lost another motor," said Earnhardt Jr. "We just can't keep them together when we put them (engines) in my car...I run good every week, we just can't finish races.
"I wish we were in the "Chase" for my fans, but we'll give them something to cheer about."
Meanwhile, Johnson's lead was more than two second on Stewart and he cruised to the checkered flag and his sixth win of the year.
The 10-race "Chase for the Nextel Cup" will begin next Sunday at the New Hampshire International Speedway.
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