Martinsville, VA (My Sportsbook) - Jeff Gordon, fell three laps down on lap 47 due to a wheel problem, but charged back to capture Sunday's Advance Auto Parts 500 Nextel Cup race at the Martinsville Speedway. The No.24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.593 seconds ahead of runner-up Kasey Kahne.

The victory was Gordon's second of the season and 71st of his Cup career. His first win was in this year's Daytona 500.

It didn't take long for the "short track" action to begin. It started at the end of the first lap when pole winner Scott Riggs' Chevrolet got loose and he and Ryan Newman rubbed fenders. That led to the first caution when Newman's left-front tire exploded.

Gordon was the next contender to suffer problems. Just 47 laps into the 500- lap race, he reported a "severe" vibration. It turned out to be a loose wheel that left the six-time Martinsville Speedway winner three laps down by the time repairs had been made.

Other drivers who found themselves down a lap included Matt Kenseth and series points leader Jimmie Johnson.

Meanwhile, the fastest cars on the track were Jeremy Mayfield, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace and to the delight of his hometown crowd - Ricky Rudd. The Virginia native, who was forced to qualify for the race on time, had a very quick car.

At the halfway point, Stewart held a 3.368-second lead over Mayfield and had led 109 of 250 laps.

Behind him however, things were changing. Gordon had finally solved his problems and had gotten two of his three laps back. Wallace had been caught for speeding on pit lane and was sent to the end of the longest line. Greg Biffle and Brian Vickers collided and fell by the wayside.

On lap 260, both Newman and Wallace had worked their way back into the top-10. Gordon continued to shine and on lap 275 made his way onto the lead lap. The No.24 moved through the field and just after a caution came out for a Jeff Green spin on lap 322, he found himself in 10th place.

With 150 laps to go, in was still Stewart showing the way by 0.957 seconds over Kurt Busch. But Gordon was coming. The man who had never had a DNF at Martinsville had just passed Jason Leffler for sixth. Only Stewart, Busch, Labonte, Martin and Rudd stood between Gordon and the lead.

Just past the 400-lap mark, leader Bobby Labonte called into his pits that he was only running on seven cylinders instead of eight. Busch quickly passed the No.18 as well as Martin. Stewart's chance of victory ended when his right- front wheel broke on lap 432.

That left Busch, Martin and Gordon in charge.

Sterling Marlin held the lead by bypassing the final stop, but he was not going to win the race on old tires.

Gordon passed Martin moving easily underneath the No.6 Ford, but had a more difficult time with Busch. Despite being faster, he was finding it hard to get past the 2004 Nextel Cup champion. On lap 448, Gordon dove to the bottom of the track and Busch turned down into the corner at the same time. It sent Busch spinning to the outside wall and Gordon into second place.

Just 16 laps later. Gordon flew past Marlin for the lead which he would not relinquish. He built the lead to 2.828 second with 20 laps to go, but Gordon's headaches were not over.

He needed to pass Busch again as he had caught up to the back of the field and the No.97 was not happy with their earlier "meeting." Busch went wide into turn one and the two drivers rubbed slightly, but Gordon's car was too fast for Busch to keep up.

Gordon was cruising to the win until a caution came out with 10 laps. That left one more task for the four-time series champion, to beat Kahne off the restart. The green flag came out with three laps to go and Gordon was stellar moving away from the second-year driver and onto the checkered flag.

Martin, Newman and Wallace completed the top-five.

Johnson, who qualified poorly, spent the entire afternoon working his way through the field and finished a solid eighth. He remains the points leader after six events, holding a 160 point edge over Biffle (977-817). Elliott Sadler (-182) and Martin (-198) are the only other drivers within 200 points of Johnson. Gordon jumped six places to sixth overall.

The next race on the Nextel Cup schedule is Sunday, April 17th at the lightning fast Texas Motor Speedway where Sadler is the defending champion.