Jimmie Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports a highly anticipated first victory of the 2008 season at the Phoenix International Raceway.

Johnson stayed on the track while most of the leaders, including Mark Martin, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin, came to pit road during the final laps for fuel to get to victory lane. However, Johnson didn't steal this victory thanks to pit road, rather he almost lost it.

On lap 200 Johnson lost positions on pit road that caused him to fall from 8th to 11th in the running order. However, in the final ten laps Johnson had Martin in his sights, and when Martin surrendered the lead for fuel, Johnson led the final nine laps and cruised to the win.

"I ran out of gas on the backstretch (during the victory lap)," Johnson said, grinning. But he still had enough left for a celebratory burnout after taking the checkered flag.

"We're back. We've been working very hard to get back. I couldn't be more proud of the folks back at Hendrick Motorsports."

Behind Johnson was Clint Bowyer, who also gambled on fuel mileage to finish second. Martin finished a somewhat disappointing 5th after having the car to beat in the final laps before being called to the pits.

"I'm just really, really proud of this team. We just about pulled that one off tonight," Martin said after climbing from his car. "I saved a lot of gas, probably more than they knew. You can't stop if somebody else stays out."

While pitting cost Martin the win, it cost Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick more.

Stewart had run in the top-10 nearly all night, and was in position for a solid finish at the end when he came in for his final stop. However, the car stalled and Stewart fell to 21st. Kevin Harvick was running 2nd when he ran out of fuel and came to pit road. When his car stalled, Harvick lost valuable time and fell to 18th.

Matt Kenseth was making his 300th career start at Phoenix, but the milestone was marked with misery as Kenseth fell to 43rd early before smacking the wall and falling more than 40 laps off the pace. Kenseth slugged along for the remainder of the race before finishing 38th.