Jeff Gordon recorded his 81st career Nextel Cup series win Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the Bank of America 500.

Gordon’s bizarre victory was his sixth win of the year and increased his lead over second place Jimmie Johnson from nine points to 68. Clint Bowyer remains in third place 78 points behind the rainbow warrior after bring home his number 7 Jack Daniels car in second place.

Tony Stewart finished seventh and kept his faint hopes alive for his third career Nextel Cup championship. Stewart is currently 198 points behind Gordon and sits fourth in the chase.

Gordon was heard after the race saying to his crew chief Steve Letarte, “We definitely have a horseshoe up our butts, ” he said. “Let’s keep it there the rest of the season.”

Gordon needed an uncharacteristic spin out by Jimmie Johnson, a break from his teammate Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman to crash with victory insight, and enough fumes to cross the finish line to take the checker flag.

“I can’t tell you how many times we tried to give this one away,” Gordon said. “Jimmie Johnson, I’m not sure what happened to him. He had the field covered. But when I saw he had problems, I thought it was an opportunity for us.”

Johnson, a five-time winner here, led three times for a race-high 95 laps and appeared to be headed to Victory Lane yet again at the track his team considers its own personal playground.

But he had an uncharacteristic error, spinning his Chevrolet late in the race when he ran too close to the wall and his car went skidding across the track and into the grass. The spin stunned a field that is used to Johnson being flawless here, but that he managed to keep the damage to a minimum was just as impressive.

Gordon got a break on a late restart when his engine sputtered on a restart. Ryan Newman took advantage of Gordon’s problems and roared past the #24 and into the lead. Gordon’s departing teammate Kyle Busch had to brake sharply to avoid hitting the slowly accelerating DuPont Chevy and sending him into the wall.

To bad it wasn’t Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, or Tony Stewart behind Gordon on that restart. If it would’ve been one of those drivers, I’m sure we would’ve seen the DuPont Chevy slammed into the wall much to the delight of the fans that packed the speedway Saturday night.

Gordon was then handed another gift when Ryan Newman lost his car all by himself and slammed into the wall with victory just a few laps away. Newman has not won on the Nextel Cup circuit in over two years. His last win came in the fall of 2005 at New Hampshire in the Slyvania 300.

Gordon then somehow conserved enough fuel on the restart to hold off Bowyer and Busch to capture his first victory in Charlotte since 1999 and fifth overall at the suburban speedway.

Tony Stewart still has an outside shot at the title but he is going to need all Gordon’s luck the rest of the way if he is to hoist the cup in Miami in late November.

Stewart once again was the victim of a couple of drivers being stupid on pit road. It took Stewart the first third of the race to dial his car in and only 5 seconds for two dumbells to ruin his night. Stewart collided with Paul Menard leaving his pit stall and then was clipped right afterward by Kasey Kahne.

Stewart’s Chevrolet suffered enough damage to force him back to pit road for numerous repairs. He was furious after, complaining to his crew that “31 … guys that aren’t in this (Chase) can dictate it.”

The 2007 Nextel Cup championship has Jeff Gordon name written all over it but until Tony Stewart is mathematically eliminated I’m sticking with the #20 Home Depot to be hoisting the cup in Miami next month.