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MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon tried, but both failed to get car owner Rick Hendrick the 200th Sprint Cup victory of his career Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, as 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. That was something we certainly didn't want to see."

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

"(Dale Jr.) hit the curb and spun," he 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 one of his more aggressive performance 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 made contact with a number of cars throughout the race and was involved in the race's 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.

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."

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 and I was just tired of it, so I spun him out."

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com