Johnson puts Hendrick in Victory Lane

Jimmie Johnson’s celebration seemed a bit subdued. Maybe all these trips to Victory Lane are becoming routine for the Hendrick Motorsports crew.

Johnson gave Hendrick its seventh win in the past eight Nextel Cup races by leading teammate Kyle Busch to a 1-2 finish Sunday at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. It was the third consecutive victory for Hendrick, which remained undefeated in the four races NASCAR has used its new Car of Tomorrow.

But there was no gloating for a team all too aware how quickly the competition can catch up.

“Our team is in full stride, but this is a very circular sport,” said Chad Knaus, the winning crew chief. “You get your time at the top and you fall to some degree. What you’ve got to do is make sure when you are taking your time at the top, you don’t get too full of yourself that when it’s your turn to fall, it doesn’t break you apart.”

Johnson, who was second to teammate Jeff Gordon last week at Talladega, finally broke through on one of the worst tracks on his resume. The .75-mile oval had given Johnson fits through his career, and he came in with just one top-10 finish in 15 previous visits.

In this year of Hendrick Motorsports, everything has gone right and Johnson finally conquered the track for his series-leading fourth victory of the season.

“It’s cyclical,” the defending Nextel Cup champion said. “You enjoy it while you’ve got it, but we know that somebody is going to figure something out. We’ll just hope that the valley’s aren’t that low and the valley isn’t in the final 10.”

Johnson used the victory to pull into second place in the standings, where he now trails Gordon by 211 points.

Only Casey Mears, the fourth driver in the Hendrick stable, is struggling.

Troxel gets first win of season

Melanie Troxel won her first Top Fuel race of the season at the O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals, beating veteran Cory McClenathan in the finals to become the second woman to ever win at Gateway International Raceway at Madison, Ill.

Troxel had a run of 4.741 seconds in the finals to best McClenathan’s 5.355.

Ron Capps extended his lead in the Funny Car points to 121 with his third victory of the year, this one over Del Worsham.

Duno passes Indy rookie test

Milka Duno breezed through all four phases of her rookie test as practice began for the Indianapolis 500.

The 35-year-old from Venezuela made her IndyCar debut last week with a 14th-place finish at Kansas Speedway. Driving for Samax Motorsport, she quickly went through the series of four 10-lap tests in hopes of becoming just the fifth woman to race at Indianapolis.

If Duno joins veteran drivers Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick in qualifying, the May 27 race would be Indy’s first with three women in the lineup at the same time.