In a Hendrick Motorsports assault on Darlington Raceway, Mark Martin - at 50 the senior member of the team - won Saturday night's Southern 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race by 1.531 seconds over team-mate Jimmie Johnson.

Attrition trimmed the field, and perseverance allowed Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon to rally from a lap down each to finish in the top five

But it was a call by Martin's crew chief, Alan Gustafson, that gave the driver of the #5 Chevrolet his second victory of the season and the 37th of his career - tying him with Bobby Isaac for 17th on the career wins list.

Martin and Johnson were two of seven drivers who stayed out on old tyres under the 15th caution of the race on lap 321, while Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr. and Gordon were the first three drivers out of the pits with fresh right-side tyres.

Stewart charged through the field to finish third in his #14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, a car that gets engine, chassis and technical support from Hendrick. Stewart's team-mate, Ryan Newman, ran fourth, followed by Gordon. Stewart moved past 16th-place finisher Kurt Busch into second in the Cup standings, 29 points behind Gordon.

Truex came home sixth, followed by Brad Keselowski in the #25 Chevy owned by Hendrick. Greg Biffle, rookie Joey Logano and pole-sitter Matt Kenseth completed the top ten.

"It's absolutely unbelievable," Martin said. "This is a big surprise. We had a strong car, but I never expected to win. Alan Gustafson is absolutely the best. I may have been his childhood hero, but I'm living a second childhood now - and he's my childhood hero.

"We had a good enough car to do it, and pit strategy put us in a position to pull it off."

Ultimately, Martin had enough muscle to stave off Johnson's last-ditch attempts to pass him after the final restart on lap 347 of 367.

"He's Superman," Martin said. "Three championships in a row. The guy's incredible. I thought he was trying to snooker me, lollygag back there and all of a sudden mash the gas, and I'd be off-guard. I was trying to save gas, but I couldn't let him get near me, because I know how tough he is."

Johnson, who gained two positions to fourth in the points, survived a series of calamities to claim the runner-up finish.