AUTO RACING; Johnson Wins the Coca-Cola 600 For the Second Year in a Row

CONCORD, N.C., May 30— Jimmie Johnson cannot help being overshadowed in the Hendrick Motorsports stable of Nextel Cup drivers. Johnson's teammate and car owner is Jeff Gordon, the four-time Cup champion and somewhat of a legend in the sport.

But Johnson is surpassing Gordon among the leading contenders in Nascar's premier series of late. And he dominated the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, winning Nascar's longest race of the season for the second year in a row and collecting $426,350.

Even the series points leader, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was forced to succumb to Johnson's superiority, falling a lap behind at one point about halfway through the race. A caution flag allowed Earnhardt to get back on the lead lap, but he never challenged for the lead. He finished sixth, just barely holding onto his overall points lead.

With the victory, Johnson, who led 334 of 400 laps, is now just 5 points behind Earnhardt in that points race.

Johnson won last year's race, which was shortened to 276 laps because of rain, leaving other drivers wondering if they could have caught him in the end. There were no such questions Sunday night.

''It is nice to go the full distance and win the race,'' Johnson said. ''It says, 'Hey we do deserve to win these 600-mile races.' We took a little criticism last year, and now this year nobody can say a thing.''

As if Johnson needed to prove anything with by far the best car, a late caution flag put him back in fifth place with 30 laps to go. No matter. Johnson pulled off the move of the race, going between the rookie Kasey Kahne and the lapped car of Robby Gordon, then chasing down the leaders. He passed Jamie McMurray with 16 laps left to move in front again with no one able to catch him.

''We saw it on the monitor,'' the crew chief Chad Knaus said of the pit crew reaction to the pass between Robby Gordon and Kahne. ''We just looked at each other and said, 'That's sick.' That's all it was. He saw a hole. It was like a keyhole, that's all it was. That was awesome.''

When the race was red-flagged with six laps to go after Ryan Newman crashed -- which Nascar did to ensure a green-flag finish for the fans -- Johnson once again held off the pack in the final three laps for the victory. The race finished with a yellow flag after Bobby Labonte hit the wall on the final lap. Michael Waltrip finished second.

Johnson, who won the pole with a track-record lap of 187.052 miles an hour with his Chevrolet on Thursday, had lapped all but 10 cars by halfway through Sunday's race.

''The 48 was just ridiculously fast,'' said Jeff Burton, who finished 29th. ''He put a hurtin' on everybody.''

It was Johnson's second victory of the season and a series-best eighth finish in the top five. He has finished in the top five in five straight races, including two second-place finishes heading into Sunday's race. Johnson's other victory this season came March 21 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

Johnson finished fifth in the former Winston Cup points race as a rookie in 2002. Last year, he was second in points to the champion, Matt Kenseth, and ahead of Jeff Gordon, who was fourth.

If Johnson keeps this up, he could upstage Earnhardt, who is the only three-time winner in the series this year and the emotional favorite to win his first points title.

Johnson showed up a lot of top-10 drivers Sunday, including Jeff Gordon. Although Gordon qualified third for the race, he struggled from the start and was well out of the hunt early. He finished seven laps behind, in 30th place.

This was not an easy race for many of the best drivers in the Cup series. Newman, Labonte, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch entered the race in the top 10 in points for the season. They all finished out of the top 10 in Sunday's race.

The only driver within eyeshot of Johnson, at least for the first half of the race, was Elliott Sadler, who wound up fifth. In the latter stages of the race, Kahne mounted a serious challenge to Johnson and was closing on the lead before the caution flags sent him back. Kahne finished 12th, still the best rookie in the race.

The victory created an unusual weekend sweep for Lowe's. Kyle Busch won the Carquest Auto Parts 300 Busch race on Saturday in a car sponsored by Lowe's. Johnson is also sponsored by Lowe's, which also owns the naming rights to the track.

PIT STOPS

Rain delays in Indianapolis forced ROBBY GORDON to abandon his bid to win the Indy 500 and return to Concord in time to start the Coca-Cola 600. He ran just 29 laps before rain red-flagged the Indy 500. JAQUES LAZIER replaced Gordon in the Dallara-Chevrolet. Gordon missed the mandatory driver's meeting in Concord before the Coca-Cola 600, and his car was automatically placed at the back of the field for the start of the race. He finished 20th.

Photo: Jimmie Johnson (48) burning rubber after winning the Nascar Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. (Photo by Associated Press)