BROOKLYN, Mich., June 10 -- Jeff Gordon held off a fast-charging Ricky Rudd on the last three laps Sunday to win the NASCAR Kmart 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
It was the second consecutive victory for Gordon, who capaured last week's event at Dover, Del. He now has three victories this season and 55 in his career, including one here in August 1998.
Gordon gave owner Rick Hendrick the 100th victory for Hendrick Motorsports.
Rudd finished in second place, just .085 seconds behind, followed by Sterling Marlin in third, Jeremy Mayfield in fourth and Ryan Newman in fifth.
Gordon led for 137 of the first 174 laps. A caution flag came out on lap 174 of the 200-lap race when Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew his engine and when Gordon came in for a stop, he was beaten out of the pits by Rudd.
Gordon was forced to return to the pits on the next lap because of problems with lugnuts on the right side of his car. Rudd followed him into the pits to put on new left side tires.
The two pit stops enabled Marlin to go in front of the field while Gordon fell back to 12th. Gordon sped back through the field and made it up to second place when a caution flag came out when John Andretti hit the wall in turn 2 on lap 189.
During the restart on lap 193, Gordon blew by Marlin between turns 1 and 2 for the lead. However, Shawna Robinson brought out the seventh caution flag of the race on the restart when she spun her car in turn 2. She was able to regain control of her car and kept it in the race.
Robinson was the first woman to start a Winston Cup race since 1989. She finished 34th and became the first woman to finish a NASCAR race since Patty Moise accomplished the feat in August 1988 at Watkins Glen.
Gordon was able to hold on to the lead following the restart on lap 197. Rudd sped inside of Gordon coming out of off turn 4 during lap 199 to take over the lead. However, Gordon jumped back in front on the last lap by going inside on turn 1. Rudd attempted to pass him on the backstretch but Gordon blocked his path.
There were 10 lead changes among six different drivers during the first 100 laps. Rudd took the lead from Gordon during the first lap, but Gordon recaptured it on the next lap and held on to it for the next 20 laps. Gordon went on to lead 81 of the first 100 laps.
There were seven caution flags during the race, including four in the first 40 laps.
