The Associated Press

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Robby Gordon was doing everything he could to preserve fuel, and his timing was perfect because those in pursuit of him were in the same predicament.

"I backed up 20 car-lengths for each corner," Gordon said after stretching his fuel over the final 39 laps to complete a sweep of this year's NASCAR road-course races with a victory Sunday at Watkins Glen International.

That was not only an effort to save gas. He wanted to be ready in case he was forced to run harder over the final few laps.

"I didn't want to use up the brakes or the tires in case Jeff Gordon or one of those guys got to us at the end of the race," he explained. "So we had plenty in reserve."

The key for Robby Gordon was pitting Sunday when Rusty Wallace went off the course on lap 51.

That move paid off when the field pitted under caution two laps later. That put him ahead of them, and Gordon took the lead when those still in front of him pitted on lap 61.

"Track position is so important," he said. "I don't know if we had the best car today, but we won."

Scott Pruett finished second, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, the winner of last week's Brickyard 400.

Earnhardt looked like a winner for much of the race, but fell back to 20th after the final pit stop before charging through the field at the end.

"We had a great car," he said. "But I had to drive real hard to get up there and didn't have much left for the leaders."

Ward Burton, Dale Jarrett, points leader Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman and Mark Martin completed the top 10.

Kenseth leads Earnhardt by 258 points after 22 of 36 races.

Winston Cup points race

1. Matt Kenseth	3,294
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr	3,036
3. Jeff Gordon	2,898
4. Jimmie Johnson	2,816
5. Kevin Harvick	2,778