Jeff Gordon kisses the trophy after winning the NASCAR Sharpie 500. Gordon's victory Saturday in Bristol, Tenn., snapped a 31-race winless streak.

Bristol, Tenn. ? Jeff Gordon snapped his 31-race victory drought Saturday night, bumping his way past Rusty Wallace with three laps to go to win the Sharpie 500.

Gordon, the four-time and defending Winston Cup champion, passed Wallace by driving his Chevrolet up onto Wallace’s bumper and sliding past in Turn 4 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After crossing the finish line, Gordon coasted around the track as his crew celebrated over the radio.

“You were like a man on the mission tonight baby, beautiful,” crew chief Robbie Loomis said. “The winless streak is over, what are they going to write about now?”

After a series of burnouts, he drove to victory lane and jumped into the arms of car owner Rick Hendrick.

“I just wanted to take advantage of an opportunity, these guys deserved a win, we don’t deserve to be written about this losing streak, so I’m glad it’s over,” Gordon said. “It feels like my first win!”

Wallace, riding a 50-race winless streak, finished second and wasn’t pleased with Gordon’s bump-and-run, claiming Gordon wouldn’t have got past his Ford him without a tap.

“It’s been a long time since I won, but it’s been a long time since Jeff won, too, and he wanted it bad,” Wallace said. “I guess my day’s coming. I got nailed in the rear end and got turned sideways, and didn’t expect it. I tried hard to nail him back, but never could get to him.”

Gordon said he had to do it to win his 59th career victory, first since Sept. 30, 2001, and fifth at Bristol, but first in the night race.

“He got bottled up in some traffic and I knew if I could get to him, I could make a pass,” Gordon said. “I got into him a little bit, he got loose and I hope he’ll understand tomorrow.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third in a Chevrolet, Kevin Harvick was fourth and Matt Kenseth was fifth.

Kurt Busch, who won here in March, finished sixth in a Ford. Winston Cup points leader Sterling Marlin was seventh in a Dodge, and Jimmy Spencer, his teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, was eighth.

Bobby Labonte was ninth in a Pontiac, followed by Mike Wallace.

Marlin, who has retained the points lead despite engine failures in two of the previous three races, was hit with bad luck in the pits that nearly doomed his night.

Marlin was running in 23rd when he pitted on lap 58 for a tire change. But he pulled away before the jack had been removed from under the car, dragging it with him for a bit down pit road.

The jack eventually came loose and rolled down the road, coming to a stop almost under Craven’s car, and NASCAR penalized the Ganassi Racing team for it. Marlin had to come back into the pits for a stop-and-go penalty and had fallen back to 37th place when he got back out onto the track.

But he had worked his way back up to 11th at the halfway point of the race and kept his points lead for the 22nd straight race. He now has a 95-point advantage over Mark Martin.

Gordon jumped from fifth to third and is 111 points back.

Tony Stewart, the defending race champion, had his night ruined when he slightly tapped Jerry Nadeau under caution. Stewart, in ninth before the contact, had to pit for repairs to his oil line and went back onto the track three laps down.