The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. gambled on tires and fuel and made it pay off Saturday night, outrunning Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte over the last 45 laps for his third victory of the season.

The Nextel Cup points leader took the lead when Tony Stewart and most of the other contenders pitted for tires and fuel with 54 laps to go in the Chevy American Revolution 400.

Earnhardt made the move look brilliant, gradually building a lead of more than 3 seconds and beating Johnson by 1.481 seconds.

"It was a great race car, just had a great long-run setup on it," Earnhardt said.

The victory was his second at Richmond International Raceway and the 12th overall for the five-year veteran.

At the end, thousands of fans of NASCAR's megastar stood with a triumphant No. 1 wagging in the air, a tribute to his dominant victory. He answered with a smokey spinout on the frontstretch to more roars.

Earnhardt led five times for 115 laps and also extended his Nextel Cup championship points lead from 25 points to 40 over Johnson in 11 races.

Labonte finished third and Stewart was fourth, giving Chevrolet the top four spots. Matt Kenseth was fifth in a Ford.

Earnhardt, Johnson and Jeff Gordon stayed out when Stewart, as the leader, and the rest of the contenders surprisingly headed for the pits when Scott Riggs' blown engine brought out the ninth caution on lap 345.

"It was loose on new tires, so pitting wasn't even an option," Earnhardt said.

Earnhardt quickly showed it was a good call when he took off on the restart with 45 laps to go with Johnson second, Gordon third, Stewart fourth and Bobby Labonte fifth - all having broken from the field.

Gordon was the first to falter, sliding up the track in the fourth turn just four laps into the green flag run, but he lost just one spot while Labonte dipped inside Stewart for third at about the same time.

Earnhardt's lead was 1 1/2 seconds over Johnson and Labonte with 25 laps to go on, while Stewart seemed to be slowly fading from contention.

It never mattered as Earnhardt pulled away.

The first half of the race was messy, but not because of the track as the drivers found two racing grooves and passed in either one.

The lead changed hands 11 times, with Earnhardt leading three times for 55 laps. There also were seven cautions flags.