Martinsville, Va. ? Jeff Gordon made a winning decision Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

The four-time Winston Cup champion was leading the Subway 500 with the laps winding down and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car looming in his rearview mirror.

jeff gordon, right, celebrates with his crew after winning the NASCAR Subway 500. Gordon overpowered the rest of the field Sunday at Martinsville, Va., and completed a season sweep of the two NASCAR Winston Cup races at the track.

The key moment came under caution on the 405th of 500 laps on the half-mile oval when Earnhardt chose to dive onto pit road for fresh tires.

None of the leaders needed any more gas to get to the end, but Gordon said he too was thinking about pitting for tires. Robbie Loomis, his crew chief, told Gordon to come in if Earnhardt did.

“Robbie kind of left it in my hands,” Gordon said. “He said, ‘Watch those guys behind you, especially Junior. You’ve only got 23 laps on the tires.’

“Junior went in, and I looked at my mirror and saw there weren’t that many other guys that were coming (in), and I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t do it with not that many guys coming.’

“Robbie said, ‘All right, now it’s all up to you. You’ve got to take those tires all the way to the end. You’ve got plenty of fuel.’ I just tried to be as smooth as I could and keep after them.”

Earnhardt, who fell to 12th after the pit, only reached fourth place. He had a hard time getting past Ryan Newman in a battle for fourth, finally passing last year’s top rookie on lap 478.

Gordon did get a brief challenge from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson after that, but it was really no contest as the winner overpowered the field.

The victory was the 63rd of Gordon’s career, but only his second of the season. The four-time series champion led 313 laps as he completed a two-race, season sweep on the half-mile oval. Johnson, who started 26th came back strong to finish 1.036 seconds — about five car-lengths — behind Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet.