Jeff Gordon triumphed in a chaotic NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville, as Penske drivers Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski both came to blows with Matt Kenseth.
Gordon resisted a late charge from Jamie McMurray to claim his first win of the season after a late restart, with victory also guaranteeing him a shot at the championship at Homestead in three weeks’ time.
With the track still damp in places, officials took the decision to start the race behind the pace car, as the circuit continued to dry.
Racing started on lap eight with Martin Truex Jr quickly jumping polesitter Logano for the lead.
Logano soon reeled the Furniture Row Racing driver in to reclaim the lead, one that he largely held in the opening half of the race before team-mate Keselowski took charge.
Keselowski was able to open up a gap of more than eight seconds back to Logano during the race’s longest yellow-free period, but that was eradicated when Kyle Fowler went into the wall on lap 378.
Keselowski selected the outside for the restart following that incident, allowing his team-mate to hold the preferred inside line as racing resumed.
But that tactic backfired on the next restart with the pair’s positions reversed.
With Logano this time leading away, he and Keselowski were too close on the restart, which allowed Matt Kenseth to get a run on the latter.
The pair rubbed against each other and, with neither backing out, Kenseth was spat out across the front of Keselowski, breaking the latter’s front-right suspension with fellow Chase driver Kurt Busch also caught up in the incident.
That wasn’t the end of the drama, though, as long-time leader Logano’s race ended in controversial fashion as Kenseth appeared to take the Penske driver out.
Logano had sprinted away off the restart, but was hit by Kenseth as he attempted to lap the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, with both forced into retirement.
A red flag period ensued to clear debris from the crash, with Gordon inheriting the race lead.
But when the cars took the track after the stoppage he led a swathe of cars into the pits, handing the initiative to Denny Hamlin and AJ Allmendinger.
They were able to put up a fight but Gordon eventually took the lead with a pass on Allmendiner with 23 laps to run.
Victory was far from secure, though, as McMurray closed in at a rapid rate of knots – with a two-lap shootout guaranteed when a late caution was thrown.
Despite McMurray’s best efforts, Gordon clung on to win ahead of the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, with Hamlin fighting back through to third after dropping back on the penultimate restart.
Dale Earnhardt Jr came home fourth ahead of second and third-best Chase runners Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.
Of the remaining Chase runners, Kevin Harvick finished eighth after early signs of promise, while Carl Edwards was 14th on a difficult afternoon.
Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Logano were classified 32nd, 34th and 37th respectively and now face a fight to make it through the final stage of the Chase.
