FORT WORTH, TX. (April 6) – - At last! Jeff Gordon's winless drought was snapped in dominating fashion as he led the most laps in the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. It was Gordon's first victory since October 2007, and the 82nd of his career. It was also his first victory at Texas Motor Speedway in his 17th start.

Gordon started on the outside of the front row and moved to the lead at the outset. However, polesitter David Reutimann ran down and passed Gordon on lap 8. He dropped to 3rd one lap later when he let Matt Kenseth pass. Gordon battled a loose handling condition as Paul Menard passed on lap 17, and Tony Stewart took a position on lap 21. As the first run progressed, he lost a spot to Kyle Busch and dropped out of the top-5. He fell as low as 8th on lap 40, but the handling improved later in the run. Gordon passed Marcos Ambrose and David Ragan to move back up to 6th on lap 47. Ambrose re-assumed 6th one lap later as Gordon skirted up the track.

Gordon pitted under the green flag on lap 52 for a chassis adjustment. He returned to the track in 5th position, but dropped to 6th when Greg Biffle passed on lap 63. The caution waved for debris on lap 97 which brought the lead lap cars to pit road. Gordon restarted in 7th on lap 101 and picked up 6th within two laps of the restart. He eventually ran down and took 5th from Carl Edwards. Gordon then closed in and passed Reutimann for 4th on lap 130, and took 3rd from Stewart six laps later. He moved up to 2nd on lap 139 by getting around Matt Kenseth. He pitted under the green flag on lap 155. The day's second caution waved for Elliott Sadler's spin on lap 157 after the leaders cycled through their stops. Gordon restarted in 3rd on lap 162. A tight handling condition in turns one and two allowed Stewart to pass for the position. He followed Stewart and moved up to 2nd with 125 laps to go.

Gordon came in for a green flag pit stop with 121 laps to go. Following the stops, he ran 4th behind Biffle, Kenseth, and Stewart. A caution for Ambrose's blow engine slowed the field. Gordon elected to stay on the track and inherited the lead. Gordon moved out to a 2.5-second lead before Sam Hornish's spin brought out the caution with 100 laps to go. Gordon once again got a huge lead on the restart, but Robby Gordon's blown engine with 83 laps to go slowed the field and brought the leaders to pit road. Gordon left pit road in 2nd position after Dale Earnhardt Jr elected to change two tires. Gordon moved back into the lead after the restart when Earnhardt Jr slowed for Kyle Busch's lapped car.

Gordon held the lead until he was blocked by Joey Logano's lapped car with 39 laps to go. That allowed Carl Edwards to move into the lead, having run Gordon down since the restart. Three laps later, Stewart took 2nd from Gordon. David Stremme's spin with 30 laps to go brought the caution out and the leaders came to pit road. Gordon won the race off of pit road and capitalized on Edwards' pit road problems. On the restart with 25 laps to go, Gordon pulled away as his teammate Jimmie Johnson moved past Stewart into 2nd place. Johnson closed in on Gordon and narrowed his lead down to a half-second in the closing stages, but was unable to catch his teammate. Good ride Cowboy, good ride!