BRISTOL, Tenn. — You may call it luck, or you may call it being at the right place at the right time, but in the end it didn’t matter because Jimmie Johnson drove away from the field in a 10-lap shootout to win Sunday’s Food City 500.

The win was the third of the season for Johnson, but the first of his career at Bristol.

“Oh boy was this special,” said Johnson. “We’ve come here 16 times and left without a win.

“I really didn’t know if we made the right call or not by taking on four tires, but it paid off. I thought we were in trouble, but we were able to get back to the front, and then get by Tony (Stewart).”

The race-deciding caution came out on lap 482 of the 500-lap race. Kurt Busch was the leader, followed by Johnson. Both of these teams took on four fresh tires. Several other teams elected to only take on two tires.

When green flag racing resumed on lap 490, the leaders were Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Johnson.

Stewart was able to move into second right after the restart, with Johnson right on his rear bumper. Within one lap, Stewart had taken the lead from Biffle, and one lap later, Johnson passed Stewart.

“It was definitely a 10-lap sprint to the finish,” said Stewart. “We were a little too loose on the previous run. They left it up to me, so whether I made the right tire call or not, I don’t know. It was hard. We struggled on restarts.”

Kurt Busch, the Atlanta winner, was third. He led 278 laps but was not able to get by Stewart in the closing laps in order to challenge Johnson.

“We were pretty solid all day, we just got beat at the end on the luck of the draw,” said Busch. “It’s random luck on which lane is going to go and we were in the wrong one.

“I’d rather lose to any of the other 41 cars out there than the 48 car. I thought we had them beat. I gave it my heart today, and even though we came up short, I’m still happy.”

Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Tempers appeared to remain intact, at least on the track, even though there was a 13-car pileup on lap 341.

Polesitter Joey Logano had several mechanical problems and finished 27th.

Top 12 Chase leaders after 5 of 36: 1. Kenseth-778, 2. Harvick-774, 3. Johnson-760, 4. Biffle-750, 5. Stewart-685, 6. Kurt Busch-677, 7. Burton-677, 8. Earnhardt-626, 9. Menard-614, 10. J. Gordon-608, 11. Kyle Busch-606, 12. Bowyer-601.

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