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"It's always more frustrating when you've got a car that can win and you show it by going up there and taking the lead," Gordon said. "We don't care about finishing top 15 or top 10 right now. That does nothing for us. We need wins."
Maybe Gordon really did have the top car. But Johnson had the win.
Earnhardt joined his Hendrick teammates up front most of the race and posted his fifth top-five of the season. His losing streak stretched to 142 races, but he has only one finish outside the top 10 in his last nine races.
NASCAR's most popular driver is back as a regular threat to win races.
"We are getting close," he said. "We are finishing good when we are not winning. I can't really complain too much about how we're doing."
Kahne followed his victory with a ninth-place finish to round out another stellar race for Hendrick.
Points leader Greg Biffle was 11th and holds a one-point lead in the standings over Kenseth heading into next week's race at Pocono Raceway.
After weeks of lengthy green-flag runs in the Cup series, the cautions and accidents finally returned. Stewart, Landon Cassill and Regan Smith all connected to trigger the multi-car crash. Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch also later were taken out of the race on separate incidents.
There were seven cautions in the race.
Johnson, who won his 57th career Cup race, took charge and led the final 76 laps, pulling away for good on a restart with 31 laps left.
There's no Earnhardt-like streak in Johnson's future. The wins will surely keep coming.
As for that wig?
"I don't think this fits the M.O.," a smiling Knaus said. "It's going to be short-lived."
[Associated Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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