(Sports Network) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. captured Sunday's LifeLock 400 Sprint Cup race at the Michigan International Speedway by making a long fuel run and outlasting Kasey Kahne in a green-white-checker finish. The No.88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet coasted across the finish line just ahead of Kahne and Matt Kenseth The victory was Earnhardt Jr.'s first of the season and 18th of his "Cup" career. It was his first win since 2006 at Richmond.

"I didn't think we had enough fuel when the caution came out," said Earnhardt Jr. "We had it set up for the win if we didn't have a caution.

"Great job, I'm proud of you," said owner Rick Hendrick."

The race came down to saving fuel and Earnhardt Jr. did it better than anyone else.

After rain cancelled qualifying, points leader Kyle Busch brought the field to the green flag for 200 laps of high-speed racing. Busch had already said before the race that he would try to lead the first lap and then settle back until his Toyota got better.

Actually Busch led the first five laps before Jimmie Johnson went past the points leader. Two men on the move were Brian Vickers and Kahne. They both cracked the top-five before lap 16. Vickers, who started 18th, moved past Busch for second place on lap 24.

Vickers was gaining on Johnson and cut a three-second lead to under half-a- second after 32 laps and then slid around Johnson on the next lap. But both of them were more than five seconds ahead of Busch.

The leaders started green-flag pit stops on lap 39 and everyone followed on the next few laps. Vickers was still the leader after everyone had cycled through the first stop.

After the stop, Vickers built the lead two almost two seconds over Johnson. Then Matt Kenseth's No.17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford came to life and he sliced through the field. He passed Johnson and began to cut into Vickers' lead.

As they passed the 75-lap mark the field was spread out all over the track with just four cars within 10 seconds of Vickers (Kenseth, Busch, Johnson, Carl Edwards).

Kenseth caught Vickers on lap 78 just as the field began another round of green-flag pit stops. After the stops were completed, Kenseth's No.17 Ford was the new leader. The early stop and a great "in" lap by Kenseth had worked to his advantage and the gap back to Vickers was now more than five seconds.

A debris caution on lap 92 erased Kenseth's big lead. Johnson, Vickers and Kenseth's pace was so quick that there were just 22 cars on the lead lap and they were still not at the halfway point yet.

A quick stop and just two right-side tires by the No.99 Edwards team, jumped him four spots to the lead as they went back to green on lap 96. Edwards was also the leader at the midpoint of the race.

After a Kurt Busch spin brought out a caution flag, pit strategies varied. The top-seven cars, led by Edwards stayed out, while the remainder of the field pitted for fuel and tires.

Kenseth and Edwards were the leaders, exchanging the lead at lap 113. Edwards, who didn't stop on the last caution and took just two tires the time before, began to fade allowing Johnson to slid into second place. But Johnson was more than one second behind Kenseth. Edwards continued to slip against Kenseth's pace - he needed a caution flag soon.

The leaders began green flag stops on lap 138 and after cycling through it was Kenseth, Johnson, Vickers, Edwards and Kyle Busch making up the top-five. A couple of laps after the stops, Bobby Labonte spun to bring out the caution flag.

It left the crew chiefs with a decision - to pit or not to pit?

Most cars could only go 40-45 green flag laps without pitting and the green flag would drop with 49 laps to go.

Johnson and Sam Hornish Jr. stayed out, while everyone else decided to pit. Would they try to go the final 49 laps without stopping? Would they take four tires now and two tires on a final splash and go?

When the green flag dropped on lap 151 it was Johnson, Hornish Jr., Kyle Busch, Edwards and Kenseth. But the race lasted just two turns before someone knocked Robby Gordon into the wall.

Jeff Gordon, Kahne, Jamie McMurray and Kevin Harvick used the caution flag to top off their tanks, but Johnson and Hornish Jr. stayed out. The other news was that Johnson was reporting the loss of first gear.

The race would restart on lap 156. Hornish Jr. caught him at the stripe, but settled in behind him with 37 laps to go. Behind them were battles for third between Kyle Busch and Kenseth and a three-way battle between Vickers, Greg Biffle and Stewart for sixth through eighth.

Hornish Jr. pitted on lap 178 and took right-side tires. Johnson would have to pit soon too. Four laps later Johnson came in for four tires and a splash of fuel.

It left Vickers, Kenseth, Biffle and Edwards in the lead, but none of them could make it to the finish either. Kahne was up to 10th and his crew thought he could make it. McMurray and Harvick were 11th and 12th, respectively and also pitted when Kahne did.

David Ragan, A.J. Allmendinger and Earnhardt Jr. led, but they pitted at lap 148. Kahne was fourth and probably could make it.

Allmendinger pitted from the lead on lap 193 and Ragan pitted on lap 194.

Earnhardt Jr. was now the leader, but on lap 194 McMurray pulled even with "Junior." Kahne was third. McMurray slid underneath Earnhardt Jr. for the lead, but Earnhardt Jr. came right back. Then Hornish Jr. spun on lap 197.

With a green-white-checker finish looming, Earnhardt Jr. was seemingly in trouble on fuel.

McMurray pitted for fuel on lap 198 as did Harvick. The running order was now Earnhardt Jr., Kahne and Vickers.

The green flag dropped and Earnhardt Jr. took off. He had a five-length lead when the saw the white flag. Then a spin, a crash and the caution flag. All Earnhardt Jr. had to do was make it to the finish line. He did and collected his first win in 76 races (not including non-points events).

"We run out coming to the white (flag), it stumbled off of the straightaway," said Earnhardt Jr. "We were going to stumble to the finish and not win the race (if the caution flag hadn't come out)."

Earnhardt Jr. stalled just past the checkered flag and needed a push to get to Victory Lane.

Kyle Busch will take a 32-point lead over Jeff Burton and an 84-point lead over Earnhardt Jr. to the next race - scheduled for Sunday, June 22nd at the Infineon Raceway.















Copyright 2008 The Sports Network
All rights reserved