Concord, NC (Best E Casino) - Casey Mears avoided a couple of early multi-car accidents and made his final tank of fuel last just long enough to capture Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway. The No.25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 9.561 seconds ahead of J.J. Yeley. He ran out of fuel just after the checkered flag and needed to be pushed to Victory Lane.

The victory was the first of Mears' Nextel Cup career.

"We were a third-place or fourth-place car at best," said Mears. "Our game plan was to conserve fuel. I have to thank Darian (Grubb), it was an excellent call."

Ryan Newman led the field to the green flag for 400 laps of high-speed racing. Newman lasted nine laps before Kurt Busch powered past him for the lead.

Greg Biffle brought out the first caution flag when he slammed the wall on lap 46. On the restart, Jimmie Johnson had a tire explode and the resulting melee sent a dozen cars spinning across the track. Those that received damage totaled 16 cars including: Juan Montoya, David Gilliland, Sterling Marlin, Jeff Green, Elliott Sadler and Clint Bowyer.

On the restart from the "big crash" there was another multi-car incident. This one was started by Tony Raines and took out the points leader Jeff Gordon along with A.J. Allmendinger, Johnny Sauter, Joe Nemechek and damaged Jeff Burton's Chevy.

All the havoc was being created behind leader Kurt Busch who was looking very strong. The No.2 Penske Racing Dodge led 102 of the first 150 laps. But this is a 400-lap race and those that start strong in the sunshine don't always finish that way in the cool of the night.

And of course Johnson was lurking in 10th place. The winner of almost everything at Lowe's (three 600s, two fall events and two All-Star Challenges), Johnson was just cruising along waiting for later in the race.

Brian Vickers was enjoying the night too. He led 49 laps through lap 170 and was holding off both Kurt and Kyle Busch at bay. Johnson was up to fourth when a caution flag for debris slowed the field.

Vickers' pit crew seemed on their game too, because they got him out first. He fought hard, but Kurt Busch drove past Vickers on lap 175 for the lead again. Vickers fought back but that just gave Johnson and Tony Stewart a chance to join the lead pack.

Johnson was the fastest on the track and he challenged the two leaders. Kurt Busch got loose and scrapped the wall bringing out a caution flag, but not before Johnson took the race lead.

At the mid-point of NASCAR's longest race of the season, Johnson was sitting pretty on top of the scoring pylon. Vickers was second with Carl Edwards and Stewart stalking the two leaders.

Vickers edged past Johnson and slowly built a lead of more than two seconds with 220 laps completed. Suddenly Edwards slowed and spun with an apparent tire problem collecting David Ragan and Bill Elliott in the spin.

At the same time, Kyle Busch said he was having a battery problem and Vickers radioed that he might be having a power steering problem. The No.5 team elected to change the battery because there will still 180 laps to go in the race. Vickers team had used the caution to fill the power steering reservoir with fluid, a temporary fix at best.

Vickers rebounded from his problem and cracked the top-10 on lap 238, but Kyle Busch was trying to get the positions back too quickly and slapped the outside wall, adding to his problems.

After the next caution flag (another Kyle Busch wall incident), Kenseth and Vickers found themselves with the lead while Johnson fell to fifth.

Kenseth was very good after the caution and built a two-second lead on the field. Stewart was also quick and moved around Vickers for second place with the ever-present Johnson in third.

Johnson, Kenseth and Stewart were feeling pretty good about their cars, taking fuel only at the next caution flag stop. Kenseth was the best of the three when the green flag dropped and slid underneath Johnson for the lead. But not a big one as the top four cars (including Earnhardt Jr.) were all within one second.

"Junior" couldn't keep up the pace of the three leaders and fell by the wayside as they passed the 290-lap mark.

So it looked for all the world like a three-horse race.

Johnson and Stewart both jumped to the bottom of the track and took over the lead with 85 laps to go. They quickly built a two-second lead on Kenseth who couldn't keep it on the white line. At the 320-lap mark Johnson had edged out to a full second lead on Stewart.

Could he do it again? And if not, who would make the correct adjustments on the final stop to beat Johnson?

Seventy laps to go and Johnson's margin was up to 1.878 seconds.

Stewart and company got a break when Vickers slammed the wall with 62 laps to go. That distance was too far to reach on one 19-gallon tank of fuel - at least without some caution flags.

Or was it?

All the lead-lap cars decided to pit on lap 339. Johnson took four tires, but they missed a lug nut. He didn't leave pit road and got the last lug nut on the wheel without a penalty, but he returned to the track in 10th place.

This would be a true test of Johnson's "Lowe's Motor Speedway dominance."

Stewart took the green flag restart with 59 laps to go. Johnson took off as well passing two cars on the first lap. On lap 357 he passed Mark Martin and took over fifth place.

Meanwhile, Stewart built a one-second lead on Mears and more than three seconds on Earnhardt Jr. Johnson caught and passed Kenseth with 35 laps to go and took aim on "Junior."

He was the fastest car on the track but did he have enough time?

Stewart was still comfortably ahead, but could anyone make it to the checkered flag without stopping for a "splash and go?"

Stewart's lead was 3.180 seconds with 20 laps remaining.

Ten laps to go and two crew chiefs said they were going the distance - Ricky Rudd and Vickers. They were more than 24 seconds back, but their telemetry said they could make it to the last lap.

The leaders pitted, but Mears surprised everyone by staying out. He was going to gamble too. Mears had an 11-second lead with two laps to go. Now he could see the white flag. Just 1.5 miles to go and he eased on the gas pedal. He made the turn for home still under power and crossed the finish line well ahead of the Yeley and the field.

Kyle Petty, Reed Sorenson and Vickers completed the top-five. Stewart ended up sixth and Johnson 10th. Gordon was credited with a 41st-place finish, but maintained a 132-point edge over Johnson in the championship.

The next race in the series is scheduled for Sunday, June 3rd at the Monster Mile in Dover, DE.