Johnson, Gordon almost get 200 for Hendrick

MARTINSVILLE

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon tried, but failed to get car owner Rick Hendrick his 200th career Sprint Cup victory Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Johnson finished second and Gordon was third behind winner Tony Stewart.

Johnson led until Stewart passed him on the final restart with three laps to go.

“At the end, all the cautions were not what we needed,” Johnson said. “It was frustrating to see the same few cars over and over with the caution.’’

Gordon rallied after he was involved in a multi-car incident that brought out the caution flag on lap 9. His car suffered right front damage in the melee.

“(Dale Jr.) hit the curb and spun,’’ Gordon said. “I chose to get out of the way of the guys behind me, so they didn’t get into me. Unfortunately, I got into Junior.”

Healthy appetite

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished seventh in what was one of his more aggressive performances at Martinsville in years.

“That, right there, was basically, ‘Hey, the season is running down and we are not going to be racing much longer and I am going to miss it,’ so I came to the buffet and got everything I could eat,” he said. “Everybody that I think I ran over even got me back accidentally in one shape or form. I don’t know if they think we are all even, but I ain’t really worried about it.”

Earnhardt, who made contact with a number of cars throughout the race, was involved in its first incident when he hit the curb and spun into Kurt Busch. Six cars were involved.

Earnhardt also made contact with Joey Logano later in the race, causing Logano to spin.

“I got into Joey accidentally,’’ Earnhardt said. “My fault. I hated that.’’

Helping hand

Kevin Harvick credited teammate Jeff Burton with helping him finish fourth.

“(Burton) helped us on the last restart there to get down” to the inside line, Harvick said. “I really appreciate that. Just the top was tough for me to get going on restarts. (Stewart) was really the only one that could make any ground on the restarts and that is what won him the race.”

Crew member injured

Sean Irvan, jackman for Travis Kvapil, was treated and released from Martinsville Memorial Hospital after being hit on pit road during Sunday’s race.

Irvan suffered a concussion, neck strain and a medial collateral ligament strain in his right knee after being hit by Mark Martin’s car early in the race.

Rough day

Matt Kenseth might have seen his title hopes end by finishing 31st after being involved in incidents with Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch. Kenseth fell to fifth in the standings, 36 points behind series leader Carl Edwards.

On the contact with Vickers, Kenseth said: “With Brian, he just kept hitting me in the door. I mean, we’re at Martinsville and I gave him the bottom. Obviously, I’m not gonna roll over and let him go with 40 to go or whatever it was, and he just kept driving in harder and harder and he slammed me in the door at least five times and just ran me up in the marbles ... I was just tired of it, so I spun him out.” 

Martinsville test

Several teams are scheduled to take part in the fuel-injection test today at Martinsville Speedway.

Joe Gibbs Racing is scheduled to have Denny Hamlin drive. Aric Almirola will drive for Hendrick Motorsports. Regan Smith will be in the Furniture Row Racing car. Kurt Busch will drive the Penske Racing car in the morning session and Sam Hornish will drive it in the afternoon. Jamie McMurray will drive the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing car.

Also, AJ Allmendinger is scheduled to be in the Roush Fenway Racing car, Mike Skinner will drive for Michael Waltrip Racing and Joe Nemechek will be in the NEMCO Motorsports car. Stewart and Ryan Newman will drive for Stewart-Haas Racing.

The test, scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., is open to the public.

Warning

NASCAR told drivers before the race that there would be a three-lap penalty for intentionally causing a caution. A spokesman later said officials wanted to “remind’’ drivers that there should be “no funny business.’’

The infraction was mainly for cars that need to pit, but stop on the track to get a caution and then speed away. For drivers that wreck someone else, NASCAR can impose other penalties.

Pit stops

There were 18 cautions for 108 laps. There were 11 cautions for 72 laps in the spring race at Martinsville. … Stewart collected $198,983 for the win. … Kyle Busch led a race-high 126 laps. … Casey Mears finished a season-high 12th.