It seems that no amount of rain can dampen the dominance currently being shown by Hendrick Motorsports this season as Jimmie Johnson roared to his fourth win of the season in Sunday's postponed Crown Royal 400.
With bright blue skies and satisfyingly full grandstands at the three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway the 43 starters took the green flag for a full 400-lap restart for what quickly turned into the best Car of Tomorrow race yet.
Even though the overnight rains had washed away all previous rubber laid down, leaving a very ‘green' track surface, there was plenty of good old fashioned short track racing to be found up and down the leaderboard as well as a great deal of bumping and banging as the drivers really tested the structural integrity of the new cars.
Hendrick drivers dominated for much of the day, with polesitter Jeff Gordon, eventual winner Johnson and the precocious Kyle Busch combining to lead nearly 250 of the 400 laps in a race that featured no less than 13 full course caution periods and more than two dozen lead changes among 12 drivers.
Gordon led the opening tours before fourth place starter Johnson took over on lap 31, nine laps prior to NASCAR's ‘competition caution.' Gordon's crew were able to return their man to the front during the stops where he found a new challenger in the form of Hall of Fame Racing's Tony Raines, who gambled on just two fresh tyres.
Raines gave a feisty account of himself and even led a lap before eventually dropping back as Gordon took over once again. Gordon continued to lead through the second round of stops and was still in control when the longest green flag run of the day began on lap 125. However the current points leader soon found himself on the back foot as home town hero Denny Hamlin and
Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick pushed the #24 Chevrolet back to third.
![Jimmie Johnson (#48) races Kurt Busch (#2) in the NASCAR's ever Car of Tomorrow event [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/303479.jpg)
