Jeff Gordon is winless no more. The four-time Sprint Cup champion ended a 66-race winless streak by taking the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway following a spirited duel with Kyle Busch.
Gordon roughed up Busch to take the lead with less than 10 laps remaining. The two made contact exiting turn four, allowing Gordon to get underneath, then banged doors in turn one. From there, Gordon pulled away to end his career-high winless streak and deny Busch the opportunity to sweep all three national touring series in the same weekend.
Jimmie Johnson finished third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman.
It is Gordon’s 83rd career win, tying him with Cale Yarborough on the all-time list, and his first with crew chief Alan Gustafson.
The race was plagued by early carnage.
In the first 67 laps, 24 cars -more than half the total cars in the field – were involved in incidents. A five-car crash on lap 59 and an 13-car melee highlighted the accident-filled first quarter of the 312-lap event.
Among those involved in crashes were polesitter Carl Edwards, Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne, Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Brian Vickers, Travis Kvapil, and Regan Smith.