Jimmie Johnson thought he needed a victory to jump back into contention for the Nextel Cup championship. He got it, and it still wasn't enough. Johnson won the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night -- leading teammate Jeff Gordon across the finish line for a 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports -- but gained almost no ground in the Chase for the Championship. On a night in which almost all 10 of the championship contenders had some sort of trouble, Kurt Busch and Gordon rebounded the best. The two bounced back from a wreck in the first turn of the first lap to salvage stellar finishes and retain their hold on the top of the point standings. Busch finished fourth and now holds a 24-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished third. Gordon, who also had a second minor accident midway through the race, is 74 points back. Despite a series of bad break to most of the contenders, nine of the 10 finished 14th or better. That meant Johnson, whose victory gave him a season sweep at Charlotte Motor Speedway, gained just one spot in the standings. The Lowe's-sponsored driver is eighth, 222 points behind Busch, because of finishes of 32nd or worse the past two weeks It made no difference to Johnson, who celebrated becoming the first driver to sweep the Lowe's races since the late Dale Earnhardt did it in 1986 with a series of burnouts. "What a way to come back and right the ship after the bad luck we've had," Johnson said.

 :

Fin	St	Car	Driver	Make	Sponsor	Pts/Bonus	Laps	Status
1	9	#48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's/HMS 20th Anniv.	185/5	334	Running
2	23	#24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont/HMS 20th Anniv.	170/0	334	Running
3	25	#8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Budweiser/MLB World Series	170/5	334	Running
4	21	#97	Kurt Busch	Ford	IRWIN Industrial Tools/Sharpie	165/5	334	Running
5	8	#01	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	U.S. Army/G.I. Joe	160/5	334	Running
6	39	#88	Dale Jarrett	Ford	UPS	150/0	334	Running
7	5	#38	Elliott Sadler	Ford	Combos	151/5	334	Running
8	24	#42	Jamie McMurray	Dodge	Texaco/Havoline	142/0	334	Running
9	35	#30	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	AOL/RCR 35th Anniversary	138/0	334	Running
10	15	#20	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	134/0	334	Running
11	36	#17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	DeWalt Power Tools	130/0	334	Running
12	31	#40	Sterling Marlin	Dodge	Prilosec	132/5	334	Running
13	12	#6	Mark Martin	Ford	Viagra	129/5	334	Running
14	1	#12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	ALLTEL	126/5	334	Running
15	11	#32	Bobby Hamilton Jr.	Chevrolet	Tide	118/0	333	Running
16	41	#21	Ricky Rudd	Ford	Motorcraft/U.S. Air Force	115/0	332	Running
17	34	#18	Bobby Labonte	Chevrolet	Interstate Batteries	112/0	332	Running
18	19	#31	Robby Gordon	Chevrolet	Cingular/RCR 35th Anniversary	109/0	332	Running
19	43	#0	Ward Burton	Chevrolet	NetZero	106/0	331	Running
20	3	#41	Casey Mears	Dodge	Target/SpongeBob SquarePants	103/0	331	Running
21	30	#49	Ken Schrader	Dodge	Schwan's Home Service	100/0	331	Running
22	20	#14	John Andretti	Ford	VB/APlus at Sunoco	97/0	330	Running
23	16	#77	Brendan Gaughan *	Dodge	Jasper Engines & Transmissions	94/0	329	Running
24	29	#09	Johnny Sauter *	Dodge	Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts	91/0	329	Running
25	40	#5	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	Kellogg's/HMS 20th Anniv.	88/0	328	Running
26	42	#22	Scott Wimmer *	Dodge	Caterpillar	85/0	327	Running
27	32	#45	Kyle Petty	Dodge	Georgia-Pacific/Brawny	82/0	326	Running
28	6	#15	Michael Waltrip	Chevrolet	NAPA Auto Parts	79/0	319	Out of Race
29	22	#4	Jimmy Spencer	Chevrolet	Lucas Oil Products	76/0	310	Out of Race
30	13	#19	Jeremy Mayfield	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	73/0	277	Out of Race
31	14	#2	Rusty Wallace	Dodge	Miller Lite	70/0	274	Running
32	2	#9	Kasey Kahne *	Dodge	Dodge Dealers Mopar/UAW	77/10	267	Out of Race
33	18	#16	Greg Biffle	Ford	National Guard/Subway	64/0	265	Running
34	38	#84	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	CARQUEST/HMS 20th Anniv.	61/0	264	Out of Race
35	33	#43	Jeff Green	Dodge	Cheerios/Betty Crocker	58/0	238	Out of Race
36	7	#29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Goodwrench/RCR 35th Anniversary	55/0	221	Out of Race
37	10	#99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Canteen Vending/Kraft Foods	52/0	218	Out of Race
38	4	#10	Scott Riggs *	Chevrolet	Valvoline	49/0	30	Out of Race
39	27	#137	Kevin Lepage	Dodge	Carter's Royal Dispos-all	46/0	25	Out of Race
40	17	#25	Brian Vickers *	Chevrolet	GMAC/HMS 20th Anniv.	43/0	23	Out of Race
41	37	#113	Greg Sacks	Dodge	ARC Dehooker/Vita Coco	40/0	10	Out of Race
42	26	#50	Jeff Fuller	Dodge	Arnold Development Companies	37/0	7	Out of Race
43	28	#251	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	Marathon Oil/Chase	34/0	2	Out of Race