After months of frustration, Jimmie Johnson gave Rick Hendrick his 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, running away from the rest of the field on a green-white-checkered-flag restart that took the Bojangles’ Southern 500 one lap past its scheduled distance.

On Saturday night at Darlington Raceway, Johnson ended his own winless streak of 16 races, a drought of relative epic proportions for the five-time champion. The victory was Johnson’s 56th, breaking a tie with Rusty Wallace for eighth on the all-time list.

Hamlin ran second, followed by Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.

Johnson won the 199th race for Hendrick, outdueling Kasey Kahne in last year’s Oct. 9 Chase race at Kansas Speedway. In subsequent months, the organization has been tantalizingly close to No. 200 — notably at Martinsville, where Hendrick drivers were running 1-2-3 before a late caution.

On Saturday night, in winning for the third time at the Lady in Black, Johnson finally put the question of the 200th win to rest. After pitting for the final time on Lap 299 of 368, however, Johnson had to save fuel to make it to the checkered flag.

All of Johnson’s 56 victories have come under the Hendrick banner.

“You’ve got to love that man,” Johnson said of his car owner during a celebration in Victory Lane. “He said, ‘Two hundred is great, but let’s go get 250.’ So that tells you where his head is. I love it. Oh, man, what a day!”

In the closing laps, with the outcome in the balance, Hendrick left the pit box and paced up and down pit road.

“I had to get away,” Hendrick said. “They said that we were going to make it (on fuel), but I don’t believe them, you know? Everything has happened backward for us. We’ve run so good this year and then had such bad luck…

“I’m kind of numb, but I’m glad it’s over. I think we’re going to win a few more now.”

Matt Kenseth finished sixth and trimmed the series lead of Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle, who came home 12th, to two points.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. remained third in the standings, 14 points back, after a 17th-place result. Hamlin is fourth in points, 17 behind Biffle.

Stewart, himself a car owner, had the highest praise for Hendrick, who picked up his first victory on a shoestring budget when Geoff Bodine won the April 29, 1984 event at Martinsville.

“I think it’s phenomenal, especially with the competition over here getting tougher and tougher,” said Stewart, who lost second position to Hamlin when his car temporarily lost fuel pressure coming to the final restart. “It’s getting harder and harder to win these races.

“Especially for it to happen in the Southern 500 — it’s such a historic race. It’s a pretty cool milestone.”

The co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, which gets engines, chassis and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports, chased Johnson in the late stages of the race before the final caution, but Johnson’s Chevrolet was simply too strong.

“I was trying to postpone (No. 200) for another week by trying to get to Jimmie, but I just couldn’t do it,” the reigning Cup champion said. “The closer I got to him, the tighter I got. That was one of the best runs we’d had, but still I wasn’t strong enough.

“He had plenty of car left. He was just riding, trying to save fuel. They won it in dominating fashion. To win a 200th race, you don’t want to back into it. They dominated and took it the way they should.”

Stewart also fields the No. 10 car for Danica Patrick, who started 38th and finished 31st, six laps down in her Darlington Cup debut. The night before, Patrick ran 12th in her first Nationwide Series race at the 1.366-mile track.

“She ran good lap times tonight,” Stewart said. “There was a period in the race when she set her balances at her best — they said she was within a tenth (of a second) of the leaders at that point in the race. So I’m really, really proud of her.”

Johnson, who led a race-high 134 laps, held an advantage of .8 seconds and was saving fuel, when Kurt Busch hit the wall on Lap 361. Ryan Newman checked up behind Busch, only to be turned into the wall by Aric Almirola. Caution flew for the eighth time to set up the two-lap sprint to the finish.

After the race, Newman parked his Chevy near Busch’s and exchanged words with the 2004 champion. Several of Newman’s crew members tried to confront their counterparts on Busch’s team, and the driver himself, but NASCAR officials restrained them.

The hard feelings stemmed from the aftermath of the wreck, when Busch brought his car to pit road for repairs.

“The 39 (Newman’s) guys were mad because Kurt burned out of our pit stall, and I don’t know if they were still there working or whatnot,” said Nick Harrison, Busch’s crew chief. “Their gas man came down there raising hell and wanting to fight Kurt.”

“It’s crazy, pit road,” said Tony Gibson, Newman’s crew chief. “Things happen, and everybody’s emotions run high. It’s a hot night. Everybody settles down and talks about it. We’re all good. We can’t control drivers. Nothing against the team — none of those guys. They didn’t do anything wrong.”

The race was an anomaly. In a track known for wild action, this year’s Southern 500 ran caution-free for the first 172 laps, through three cycles of green-flag pit stops.

By the time NASCAR called the first caution, for debris in Turn 2, Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet had emerged as the dominant car, having opened a lead of more than five seconds over Kyle Busch, who was running second when the yellow flag was finally displayed.

“We believe the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will once again provide fans with what they’ve come to expect every season – the world’s most exciting and competitive form of motorsports,” said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. “Next year’s schedule has a few adjustments that we think will be good for the fans and good for the overall flow of the season. One thing will remain constant, however, and that’s the intense competition we see week in and week out from our drivers and race teams.”

One of those adjustments takes place during NASCAR’s playoffs – the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – and could affect the strategy during the championship run. Talladega Superspeedway’s Chase event moves up two weeks to Oct. 7, becoming the fourth race in the Chase. Often labeled as the wild-card track in the Chase, Talladega’s grueling test is now staged during the first half of the Chase.

Talladega swaps its Chase date with Kansas Speedway (Oct. 21) to accommodate Kansas’ repave, scheduled for after the track’s spring event. As such, Kansas’ spring date has also been moved. Kansas now will be the eighth race of the season on April 22. Talladega’s spring event moves to May 6, and Dover International Speedway’s spring event returns to its traditional spot on June 3.

As previously announced, the season-opening Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway will start one week later with the running of the preseason “non-points” Shootout at Daytona on Feb. 18. The 54th annual Daytona 500 will run on Feb. 26.

The race dates for Phoenix International Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have likewise been moved a week later, to March 4 and March 11, respectively.

Two other featured adjustments to the 2012 schedule:

Texas Motor Speedway’s spring date will be moved to April 14, to accommodate the traditional open week for the Easter holiday.

Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends in 2012, as the July 4th holiday falls mid-week next year. Kentucky’s race will be June 30; Daytona will run on July 7.

As in past years, FOX will broadcast the first 13 races of next year’s schedule. TNT will follow, broadcasting the next six. ESPN/ABC will broadcast the final 17 events. Race start times will be announced at a later date.

NASCAR will also release the 2012 schedules for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at a later date.

2012 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

All in all, it was a pretty good day for Hendrick, with Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.

Top 5: Martin, Johnson, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, and Gordon.

Martin Truex Jr, Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth finished sixth through tenth, respectively.

Notables: Kevin Harvick (11th), Jeff Burton (12th), Denny Hamlin (13th), Kurt Busch (16th), Kasey Kahne (23rd), Dale Earnhardt Jr (27th), Carl Edwards (32nd), Kyle Busch (34th),  Clint Bowyer (37th), and David Ragan (38th).

Give a call to Brad Keselowski who proved his victory at Talladega Superspeedway two weeks ago wasn’t a fluke. He drove the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevy to a seventh-place finish. Dale Earnhardt Jr., however, struggled throughout the day and never ran consistently in the top 10. He finished 27th after spinning in the closing laps.

The No. 5 Chevy will be split among team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr, all-time series wins leader Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, and Scott Wimmer.

Jr will drive at Texas Motor Speedway in April, Talladega Superspeedway in April, Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May, Daytona International Speedway in July and Atlanta Motor Speedway in Sept. in Chevys that will be sponsored by Fastenal, Godaddy.com, and Unilever.

Martin will drive the Chevy at Richmond International Raceway in May with Lipton as a sponsor. Tony Stewart will drive at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Oct. with Delphi as a sponsor. Stewart already has one victory in the series this season, winning the Camping World 300 at Daytona in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevy.

Newman will drive the No. 5 Fastenal Chevy in four races: Dover International Speedway in May, Chicagoland Speedway in July, Michigan International Speedway in Aug., and Kansas Speedway in Oct.

Wimmer will also pilot the No. 5 Fastenal Chevy for six races: Darlington Raceway in May, The Milwaukee Mile in June, O’Reilly Raceway Park in July, Iowa Speedway in Aug., Bristol Motor Speedway in Aug., and Richmond International Raceway in Sept.

Wimmer said in a JR Motorsports press release:

I am really excited to be associated with JR Motorsports and a great sponsor like Fastenal. I will be running at tracks that have been good for me in the past and look forward to my first event with JR Motorsports at Darlington in May. Hopefully, we can get the Fastenal car in the Winners Circle.

The announcement leaves two races without a named driver — the road-course events at Watkins Glen and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, both in Aug. Drivers for those races will be announced at a later date. Last season, Ron Fellows drove the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevy to victory in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, so he may be considered for that race.

Earnhardt Jr. drove at Watkins Glen last year, presumably to get more experience at road courses, so he may take one of those races.

Also, anytime you mention road courses, you have to mention Boris Said’s name. He could also be considered.

Earnhardt Jr said:

This No. 5 team carries a strong tradition and a lot of expectations, and we are fortunate to attract such quality talent to help carry on that tradition. We had a similar set-up with this team last year, and we were able to go to Victory Lane twice. Obviously with this driver line-up, there’s no reason we can’t exceed last year’s win total.

The retailer will also sponsor the car at the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

HOF Racing, in addition to signing Labonte, recently formed an alliance with Yates Racing, and has secured sponsorship from Ask.com.

If you take someone with the talent of Jr. and combine him with a dominant team like Hendrick, it’s a recipe for success, right? So, what’s missing?

Some people seem to think Tony Eury Jr. is the weak link. As Jr. was leading the Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen International, a track he rarely performs well at, Eury’s decision to keep him out cost the team big.

Eury Jr. is usually a play-it-safe kind of crew chief. Jr. nation often times gets frustrated at Eury’s decision to go for the good finish instead of going for the win. But, the one time Eury rolls the dice, fans still criticize him.

I’m sure that Eury knows that being the crew chief of NASCAR’s most popular driver is no easy task, and he makes his decisions based on the best interests of the team and his driver, not to appease the fans.

Some fans seem to forget that it was Eury’s strategy that got Jr. the win at Michigan International Raceway this year. They also don’t remember that it was Eury who used strategy to salvage a fourth-place finish after Jr. suffered damage to his Chevy at the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.

So, before fans start calling for Eury’s head, they should realize that he’s got one of the toughest jobs in NASCAR. And, thus far, he’s not doing too bad.

He’s managed to keep Jr. in the top 5 in points throughout the season, and he’s earned a win for his driver, all in his first season with a new team. Add in the fact that Hendrick has not been as dominant as it was last year, and you’ll see that Eury’s been a positive for the team.

Every driver goes through bad stretches and hits some bad luck. It’s the nature of the sport. (See Marcos Ambrose.) So, before you call for Eury Jr. to be replaced, compare Jr.’s stats this year to his stats last year.

I think most of Jr. Nation would be happier with Jr. being fourth in the standings with three races to go until the Chase, instead of 13th in the standings at the same point last year.