Concord, N.C. ? Jimmie Johnson saved his best for last, trying only to win when the big money was on the line.

Johnson won NASCAR’s all-star race Saturday night by focusing only on the third and final segment of The Winston and its record $1 million prize.

It avenged his disappointment from last year, when he won the first two segments at Lowe’s Motor Speedway but wound up fifth with just $100,000 to show for it.

“Last year we thought we had it after the first two segments, but it didn’t work out,” he said. “So this year we played our cards right and focused on the big prize and went out and got it.”

Johnson took the lead away from his car owner and teammate Jeff Gordon five laps into the final 20-lap segment, then pulled away in the Chevy for an easy victory over Kurt Busch.

Johnson dominated the event as a rookie in the first two segments last year. But in a unique twist to the all-star event, the fans vote on how they want the field inverted for the final segment.

They always choose to invert the maximum 10 cars, and Johnson was shuffled to the back of the pack last year and wound up fifth.

Saturday Johnson finished the second segment in seventh place, and moved up to fourth on the inversion.

“We made sure we were going to be somewhere where it would help us on the inversion,” Johnson said. “We learned that last year.”

The inversion put Johnson right behind Gordon on the grid, and he followed his teammate past leader Sterling Marlin on the restart.

Then he set his sights on Gordon, and passed him four laps later.

“He is the best driver I have ever seen at Lowe’s Motor Speedway,” crew chief Chad Knaus said.

Johnson was almost unbeatable last year in the Coca-Cola 600 — the race held the week after The Winston — but a mistake in the pits on the final stops cost him the victory. It was a disappointment for a driver who is sponsored by Lowe’s.

Everyone knew his team would be back to settle the score during two weeks here: track president Humpy Wheeler made Johnson his pick in his annual prediction, and Johnson made him right for the ninth time in 15 tries.

“Humpy puts a lot of pressure on you when he picks you,” Knaus said. “He came down before the race and reminded us how we had to win, so the pressure was on.”

Bobby Labonte was third, and was followed by Johnson teammate Joe Nemechek and Michael Waltrip.

Busch, shuffled back to 10th on the inversion, passed nine cars in the final 20-lap segment and finished second.

“I think they should give out money for passing cars and we would have ended up with a lot of cash tonight,” Busch said.

With so much money on the line and no points at stake, drivers are more aggressive. That’s understandable, considering Johnson’s $1,017,604 prize.

Tony Stewart spun out Terry Labonte after a restart and created a five-car accident. Knocked out of contention were Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Terry Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin and polesitter Bill Elliott, who was taken to a hospital because of a broken foot.