CONCORD, N.C. -- Its not often a race car driver intentionally cruises slowly at the back of the field. Jimmie Johnson did it for roughly 60 laps Saturday night, and it earned him a cool $1 million payday. Johnson used a calculated strategy -- he drove hard for the first and last segments, and coasted for the three in between -- to join Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon as the only three-time winners of NASCARs All-Star race. The five-time champion won the first 20-lap segment of the Sprint All-Star race, then deliberately faded to the back for the next three 20-lap segments at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His plan was to keep the No. 48 Chevrolet out of trouble, then make his play for the win in the fifth and final segment. "We did a strategy that we thought was best for our team," he said. It certainly was, even if it was the antithesis of what race car drivers do for a living. But it worked for this years new format, which guaranteed the winners of the first four segments would be the first four drivers down pit road for a mandatory stop before the 10-lap sprint to the finish. Johnsons win in the first segment meant he was guaranteed to be the first driver down pit road, and he had the first stall -- the reward for his Hendrick Motorsports team winning Thursday nights Pit Crew Competition. His race, after winning that first segment, was simply to beat everyone else off pit road. Johnson raced Matt Kenseth down the lane, and edged him across the line. He then needed a clean and quick restart, which he executed to perfection, to pull away for the win. This win comes a week after his Darlington Raceway victory gave Hendrick Motorsports its 200th Cup win. "Man, I dont want this week to end," Johnson said. He celebrated by picking up team owner Rick Hendrick, who climbed halfway through the window of the Chevrolet for Johnsons celebratory lap. It was Hendricks seventh All-Star race win. "He said come pick me up, and once I got to him, he didnt want the ride," Johnson said. "Im like, No, no, I came to get you, Get on the car. It was great to take him around." It didnt look very comfortable -- or safe. "That was the dumbest thing Ive ever done in racing," Hendrick said. "I thought I was going to be a busted watermelon." Brad Keselowski, winner of the third segment, had no chance to catch Johnson over the closing 10 laps. The final segment was the shortest by 10 laps, but Keselowski didnt think it mattered. "I dont think it was going to make a difference if it was a hundred laps at the end; Jimmie was just that fast," Keselowski said. "You cant really steal any of his thunder on that. I was doing all I could to get by, but wasnt meant to be." But Keselowski, who won the third segment, wasnt all that disappointed. "Its all about the restart," Keselowski said. "The high line on the restart just wouldnt go. I dont know if I would have been able to do anything, but I would have liked another shot. We got beat by a five-time champ and two-time All-Star winner, so I think were doing pretty good. We didnt have enough to pull it off." Kenseth, winner of the second segment, finished third. He had some tense moments after teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle had engine failures -- Biffles exploded into a giant fireball -- and initially wasnt all that comfortable following Johnsons lead of running around the back until the final 10 laps. "I watched what the 48 did. They won the first one, so they didnt race until the last 10," Kenseth said. "They seem to know what theyre doing, pretty smart. We watched that, kind of hung back. There wasnt any reward for racing up through there. You knew you were coming on pit road second." And after losing the race off pit road to Johnson, and the restart, too, Kenseth knew he couldnt catch the winner. It was Kenseths fifth top-five finish in 12 All-Star races. "For me, you got somebody as fast as him out front, there was no way I was going to have a shot in 10 laps," Kenseth said. "Ten laps is kind of short, but yet the fastest car was out front. It was hard to beat that." Kyle Busch finished fourth and was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the fourth segment and advanced into the All-Star race by winning the qualifying race earlier Saturday night. Busch, the pole-sitter, wasnt surprised by the finishing order. "It was exactly like everybody thought it would be; Anybody who wins the first segment will win the race," Busch said. jerseys from china . At the start of this season, few knew where that spark would come from, and it looked worse after the Wildcats dropped their opening game against Temple. cheap nfl jerseys . 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The team announced Thursday that centre Mike Santorelli has undergone surgery to repair a torn labrum and will be out five to six months, effectively ending his season. The news came after assistant coach Mike Sullivan told reporters defenceman Kevin Bieksa wont accompany the Canucks on their five-game road trip that leads into the Olympic break. "Its more than (a maintenance day)," said Sullivan of Bieksas absence from practice. "He is not going to join us on the trip. "We dont know the details of it yet. When we get more information well update you." On top of that, fellow defenceman Christopher Tanev is out with whats believed to be a broken hand. Captain Henrik Sedin has missed the last five games with an upper-body injury, although Sullivan expects him back soon. "Hes still day-to-day, but I believe he will join us on this trip and we are hopeful that well get him at some point here," said Sullivan. It all adds up to a very busy sick bay for a team that has just four wins in its last 15 games (4-8-3), including just two victories in regulation. The loss of Santorelli hurts up front as the Canucks have been held to two goals or less in nine of their last 10 games. The 28-year-old, who was injured Jan. 16, had 10 goals and 18 assists in 49 games this season. A native of nearby Burnaby, B.C., Santorelli impressed head coach John Tortorella in training camp and became one his most trusted players the first half of the season. "After consultation with our team physicians, we determined Mike would require a procedure on his shoulder," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis saiid in statement.dddddddddddd "The surgery was successful and we expect a full recovery." Santorelli -- who can become an unrestricted free agent in July -- had been a journeyman in the league until appearing to find a home with the Canucks. He was put on waivers by the Florida Panthers last season and picked up by the Winnipeg Jets before signing with Vancouver. The loss of Bieksa, who has four goals and 15 assists in 55 games this season, is also a significant blow. To take the 32-year-olds place on the blue-line, the Canucks recalled defenceman Frank Corrado of the American Hockey Leagues Utica Comets. The 20-year-old played six games for Vancouver earlier this season but has yet to register a point. Meanwhile, Tortorella still has one game to go in his six-game suspension for trying to get into the Calgary Flames locker-room after that infamous first-period line brawl Jan. 18. The fiery head coach, who had been on his best behaviour since coming to Vancouver prior to that incident, will sit out Friday games against the Winnipeg Jets before returning Monday against the Detroit Red Wings. What he will find is a team with a 27-19-9 record thats in a dogfight for one of the two Western Conference wild-card spots, a position the Canucks arent accustomed to after winning division titles five of the last six years. "We have to be a resilient group. We understand the circumstance, everybodys looking for the result," said Sullivan. "Resilience and attitude is a big part of having success in this league, because inevitably, most teams go through adversity where they lose a few games or things dont go their way, they hit the injury bug, whatever it may be -- sometimes its all of the above." cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '