Johnson led a career-best 346 laps Sunday and pulled away on a restart with eight laps to go for his eighth career victory on the shortest track in the Sprint Cup Series, taking over third place on the career victories list on NASCAR’s oldest track.

The only drivers ahead of him? Hall of famers Richard Petty with 15 wins, and Darrell Waltrip with 11.

“Probably the most calm, relaxed thought-out weekend that we’ve ever had as the 48 (team),” Johnson said.

From the time he rolled his car onto the track for the first practice Friday until the final restart, Johnson had a dominant car, and knew it. And with his track record here, even when things seemed to take a bad turn, he and his team trusted history.

“We stuck to our game plan and knew what we wanted to have in the race and stayed patient, and it was tough to do at times, but it certainly worked out well,” the five-time series champion said. “And in the race, we had to adjust on the fly.”

No team does it better at Martinsville, and while Johnson said the final caution came at an inopportune time because he’d built a big lead over Clint Bowyer, he also realized it may have saved him from having to fight off teammate Jeff Gordon.

“Jeff on the long run probably had the car to beat,” he said. “Jeff has a really good line here on the long run, and he started catching me before the last caution and I was thinking, ‘Man, if this stays green, this could be a Jeff Gordon day.”

Instead, the caution flew on lap 487.

Johnson picked the inside line for the final restart with Bowyer on the outside, Gordon behind him and Kyle Busch to his outside, and Johnson got a clean break for the lead into Turn 1, his top priority to build some separation for the finish.

“I felt like if I could get two or three corners and maintain the lead on Clint, I could stretch it back out again,” he said.

Bowyer slid into second and Busch, who tried to make a move on the outside line, instead got hung up out there as Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kasey Kahne, who restarted fifth, went underneath to take fourth.

Nothing changed the rest of the way and the top five finished in those positions.

Gordon, too, was thinking he had a chance until Kurt Busch crashed, bringing out the 12th and final caution.

“I obviously didn’t want to see a short run there at the end,” he said.

The victory made team owner Rick Hendrick’s organization the winningest team in Martinsville history with 20, breaking a tie it had with the Petty organization.

Gordon, who was tied with Johnson and Rusty Wallace with seven victories on the 0.526-mile oval, said he knew it would be a tough day when Johnson won the pole for the second race in a row here because of the pit road advantage.

“You give him that No. 1 pit stall here at Martinsville, it’s almost impossible,” Gordon said.

While Johnson dominated, there were times it looked as if the race might go in another direction.

Matt Kenseth, who has struggled at Martinsville throughout his career, actually passed Johnson for the lead and led for 96 laps.

Mark Martin, driving for the injured Denny Hamlin and equally disdainful of the venue, moved into fourth place after taking a chance and getting just two tires on a pit stop, but then faded quickly.

Martin, mindful of Hamlin’s four career victories at Martinsville, finished a disappointing 10th.

“I did not fill Denny Hamlin’s shoes, I can tell you that much,” he said.

Tony Stewart, who said earlier in the week he thought it would be funny to watch Danica Patrick try to navigate her way around the track, got passed by his rookie driver with 19 laps to go. Patrick finished 12, Stewart 17th.

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The 6-foot-6 Ross jumped over a ball boy, whipped the ball between his legs and threw down a one-handed slam to clinch the victory. Earlier, Ross donned a Vince Carter jersey, took a lob from high-school teammate Terrence Jones off the edge of the backboard, spun in the air, and then slammed home another one-hander.

Evans jumped over a painted portrait of himself and hurdled Dallas Mavericks forward Dahntay Jones for a dunk in his final round.

Ross earned 58 percent of the fan vote in the championship round. The first round was judged by former Houston Rockets Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Dikembe Mutombo, Rudy Tomjanovich and Yao Ming.

Kenneth Faried, James White, 2007 dunk champion Gerald Green and Eric Bledsoe also were in the field, while Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade were among the All-Stars taking in the show.

Green started if off by taking a lob from Indiana teammate Lance Stephenson off the side of the backboard and soaring in for a reverse slam. White played off his “Flight White” nickname when he split two columns of cheerleaders dressed as flight attendants for a powerful two-handed dunk.

Hardly outdone, Ross earned a perfect score on his first dunk, whipping the ball around his waist before smacking down a one-hander.

Evans, meanwhile, used former Jazz giant Mark Eaton as a prop on his dazzling first attempt. The 7-foot-4 Eaton held the ball above his head as he sat on a box and Evans swiped the ball and soared over his head.

Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Julius Erving, singer Alicia Keys, rapper Drake, director Spike Lee and comedian Chris Tucker were among those sitting courtside. Keys is performing at halftime of Sunday’s All-Star Game.

Three-point contest

Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving beat San Antonio’s Matt Bonner to win the 3-point contest.

Irving, who will play in his first All-Star Game on Sunday, started 7 for 7 in the final round and finished with 23 points — two shy of the record shared by Craig Hodges and Jason Kapono. Bonner finished with 20 points in the final round.

Players had one minute to take 25 3-point shots from five positions around the arc. Bonner had the highest score of the six players in the first round (19). Irving, who also played in Friday night’s Rising Stars Challenge, had 18 points in the first round.

Shooting Stars

The trio of Miami’s Chris Bosh, WNBA star Swin Cash and Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins won the Shooting Stars competition that kicked off the night’s festivities.

Bosh’s group beat the team of Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook, Maya Moore of the WNBA and former Houston Rocket Robert Horry.

The teams had two minutes to make shots from six locations on the floor, including one from half court.

Wilkins sank a half-court shot for a team time of 1 minute, 29 seconds. Westbrook rimmed out several half-court tries and time ran out before he and his teammates could make one.

The NBA tweaked the scoring format for this year’s All-Star skills exhibitions, with teams representing the East and West competing for charities.

Skills Competition

In the Skills competition, Portland rookie Damian Lillard beat Philadelphia guard Jrue Holiday in the final round to win.

The competition involves players navigating a dribbling circuit, taking a 3-point shot, hitting targets with passes and driving for a layup. Lillard swished his first 3-point attempt in his winning run and finished the obstacle course in 29.8 seconds. Holiday’s time was 35.6 seconds.

Houston point guard Jeremy Lin and defending champion Tony Parker also were in the field, but didn’t come close to qualifying for the championship round.

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