Johnson holds off Busch brothers at Chrysler 400

LAS VEGAS -- Jimmie Johnson spoiled what could have been a banner day for the Busch brothers, beating Kurt and Kyle on their home track.

Johnson was strong for all of the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 -- he led a race-high 107 laps -- and seemed to be coasting toward the victory Sunday until he had trouble passing a lapped car with under 20 laps to go.

It allowed Kyle Busch, a 19-year-old rookie who was running in a distant second place, to close the gap on the leader while big brother, Kurt, the reigning Nextel Cup champion, also moved within striking distance.

But lapped traffic soon got in the way of the Busch brothers, preventing them from challenging Johnson for the win. Johnson cruised to victory, beating Kyle to the line by several car lengths. Kurt ended up third for his best career finish in five Nextel Cup starts at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As Johnson was driving his Chevrolet to Victory Lane, Kyle was treasuring his second-place finish.

"This is as good as a win as far as I'm concerned," he yelled to his crew.

Johnson, who won a series-high eight races last season and finished second in the championship standings, won for the 15th time in his career. Add it to his fifth-place finish in the season-opening event at Daytona and the runner-up finish he scored in California and Johnson is right back in the same place he spent most of last season -- on top of the points standings.

He has won five of the last nine races, dating to last season, and hasn't finished worse than sixth since October.

But the day belonged to the Busch brothers, who have had a whirlwind week in Vegas, the city where they grew up. It's always a party when the boys are home, as they cram in all the friend and family visits they can -- as well as a dozen or so visits to the In-N-Out Burger.

Kyle even squeezed in a stint as instructor for a high school defensive driving course.

But all the glitz and glamour isn't always what it's cracked up to be, at least for Kurt, who has seemed to struggle at his home track. So with the race coming to an end, and his shot at a victory gone, he had an even harder time accepting the kid he calls "Shrub" beating him to the finish line.

"To see (Kyle) in front of me, oooh, that was tough to swallow," Kurt said. "But I am so very proud of him. But I officially have to cut it out from here: No more advice for Kyle."

Jeff Gordon finished fourth and Kevin Harvick, who had to start in 42nd place because his team admittedly cheated in qualifying, battled back and overcame a speeding penalty to finish fifth.

Greg Biffle was sixth, followed by Casey Mears and Matt Kenseth, the two-time defending race winner. Polesitter Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart rounded out the top 10.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is now in an official slump after wrecking early in the race. He was awful two weeks ago in California, where his car had three flat tires and he finished 32nd.

This time, his Chevrolet clipped Brian Vickers, triggering a five-car wreck. Vickers threw his arms up in disgust at Earnhardt as the two climbed out of their cars, and Earnhardt was contrite after privately apologizing to Vickers.

"I got in the back of him, turned him around and just took us both out really. It's pretty much as simple as that," Earnhardt said. "It's just a shame. I try not to make too many mistakes but I made a big one today."

Earnhardt ended up 42nd -- his worst finish in at least two seasons -- and plummeted to 27th in the standings.

Robby Gordon's struggles with his new motor program also continued.

Gordon, who is fielding his own team this season with motors built by Indy-car engine expert John Menard, has blown three in three races and failed to make the Daytona 500 partly because of an engine problem.

Kasey Kahne's struggles also continued. He finished second here a year ago, but wasn't really competitive this time and hit the wall midway through the race. He ended up 38th, and after a 40th-place finish two weeks ago, is 38th in the points.

"I'm upset with myself for crashing the car, but I was running two seconds off the pace and still couldn't hang on to it," Kahne said. "We were junk."