Six days after scoring a thrilling victory at the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega, Jeff Gordon won again on Saturday night, this time in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was never a sure thing, though, as Gordon, with Chevrolet running on fumes, dodged a bullet when a late race red flag was thrown (this stopping the cars for 12 minutes and six seconds) and saving what little gas Gordon had. Then, with two laps remaining in the race, leader Ryan Newman who had easily passed Gordon’s gasping car on the restart, crashed out thus handing the win to Gordon’s #24 Dupont Chevrolet.

"I can't tell you how many times we tried to give this one away tonight," mused Gordon. “It was just a great day. This is what we've been looking for is getting us a win at Charlotte. What a great comeback."

Second overall in the Bank of America 500 went to Clint Bowyer while third was awarded to Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch. Richard Childress Racing wheelman Jeff Burton was fourth and Carl Edwards, the first of the Roush Fenway Racing Fords, placed fifth.

The Chase for the Nextel Cup has now reached the halfway mark and with five of 10 races in the scoring books, Jeff Gordon leads teammate Jimmy Johnson by 68 points. Johnson, who was but a handful of points behind Gordon in the Chase points heading into Charlotte, had an abysmal night in Charlotte. After a leading 95 laps in the race, on lap number 231, Johnson allowed the ass-end of his #48 Chevrolet skip out on him, crashing into the wall. He was able to dive right into the pits for repairs, but the damage — both literally and figuratively — had been done, Johnson dropping all the way down to 14th on the Lowe’s scoring pylon.

"We had a great race car," lamented a dejected Johnson. "We didn't have a clean night. I made a mistake. ... We'll be back next week and try to score some points."