Johnson comes from behind to win Brickyard

INDIANAPOLIS -- If Jimmie Johnson wants to finally capture his first Nextel Cup championship, winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a step in the right direction.\nJohnson pulled off a gritty win at the Brickyard on Sunday, battling back from an early tire problem to take the lead, only to see it evaporate when a late debris caution bunched up the field. It dropped him from first to eighth and forced him to slice his way to the front in the final 14 laps.\nBut he did it with ease and pulled away for his second major victory of the season. Johnson won the season-opening Daytona 500, the only event that trumps Indianapolis in prestige.\nNow he'll have to see if he can translate it into a championship.\nThe winner of the Brickyard automatically becomes the favorite to win the title, and five of the past eight went on to do it.\nJohnson will now give it a try in his constant pursuit of an elusive first championship.\nThe perpetual points leader has never been able to put together a full season, and his swoon typically begins right around the Brickyard. He wrecked here and lost his points lead last season to race winner Tony Stewart, who parlayed the victory into his second championship while Johnson faded all the way back to fifth.\nMatt Kenseth, who has been sitting in second behind Johnson the past nine weeks, finished second and is 107 points out of the lead. Kevin Harvick was third and Clint Bowyer, his rookie teammate at Richard Childress Racing, was fourth.\nMark Martin finished fifth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stole a sixth-place finish by not pitting on the final caution to salvage a horrible day and reclaim the 10th spot in the Chase for the championship standings.\nKyle Busch was seventh, followed by Carl Edwards, Stewart and Kurt Busch.\nJeff Burton, who started from the pole and led a race-high 87 laps, finished a disappointing 12th after fading late.\nJeff Gordon, looking to race his way into the record books, never got the chance. He broke the sway bar on his Chevrolet just eight laps into the race and had to stop to have the part replaced. The repair work dropped him three laps off the pace, and even though he worked his way back onto the lead lap he wound up 16th.\nThe poor day prevented him from tying two distinguished marks, joining Formula One superstar Michael Schumacher as the only five-time winners in Indy history, and the late Dale Earnhardt's mark of 76 Cup wins.