Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered By Kroger at Martinsville Speedway on October 27, 2013
Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images

A season full of ups and downs was at its highest Sunday afternoon for Jeff Gordon. It had been an eight year dry spell for Gordon at Martinsville. He once dominated this track, but as of late, success has not been present for the four-time champion. That all changed with this win, however. Gordon took his first victory of 2013 to keep the championship in sight. Gordon made it to victory lane by keeping his nose out of trouble throughout the day. Many drivers are unable to say that as lots of beating and banging went down on the Virginia short-track throughout the day.

The top three title contenders coming into the day of Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Kyle Busch exchanged the lead many times in the early going. Johnson looked as he would be able to dominant the race as he has done in the past at Martinsville, but his Martinsville magic wasn’t there.

Cautions filled the air for much of the race as cars seemed to run into each other in every corner. One of the bigger incidents of the day occurred on lap 182 when a stack-up going into turn one led to lots of torn up sheet metal. Drivers drove into the back of each other as cars slowed ahead of them. Kasey Kahne ended up over the curb as his day took a hard left turn for the worse, and with the incident involving six cars with only minimal damage.

Clint Bowyer was another prominent face at the front throughout the day. He made his way to the lead for the first time on lap 238. Eventual race-winner Jeff Gordon was the guy to take Bowyer out of the top spot when the lead exchanged hands on lap 282.

A plethora of yellow flags came out between laps 284 and 337. A total of six showing just how tricky laps are following the restarts at the paperclip. On lap 318, there was a caution involving two Chasers when Kevin Harvick got into the back of Ryan Newman heading off into turn one. Newman spun up the track into the wall as his Chase keeps getting torn apart.

Matt Kenseth held the lead for most of the last part of the race. With 127 laps to go, he took the top spot and wouldn’t give it up until a later battle with Gordon.

A total of 17 cautions came out throughout the race. The seventeenth and last flew with 86 laps left to run.

Gordon chased Kenseth down for the last 50 laps. He eventually caught up to his bumper in lapped traffic and made the race winning pass with 21 laps remaining. Surprisingly, the race stayed green to the end and Gordon was able to score victory at one of his glory day tracks.

This win will keep Gordon’s title shots alive, but they stay slim as Johnson and Kenseth avoided trouble for the seventh straight week. Kenseth and Johnson are now tied atop the standings as the last three races approach. A clean slate is now present as whoever can give the best performance and avoid mistakes over the next three weeks will take home the trophy.

Results via ESPN.com