Jeff Gordon wins the 2014 AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway

Jeff Gordon won the first elimination race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Dover International Speedway, while four drivers were knocked from championship contention.

Starting on the pole Kevin Harvick dominated, leading the opening 147 laps and 223 laps overall. But Harvick’s bid for a potential third victory of 2014 was undone when a flat left tire dropped him down the running order. He finished 13th.

Harvick’s misfortune opened the door for Brad Keselowski and then Jeff Gordon to take control. Keselowski was out front until Gordon tracked him down and made a pass for the top position with 94 laps to go.​ Gordon was never seriously challenged and cruised to his fourth win of the season and his first since 2001 at Dover.

“I don’t know what happened to Kevin Harvick,” Gordon said in Victory Lane. “It was unfortunate for him; he was the class of the field. When I saw him go out, I knew we could compete with the No. 2 (Keselowski) car. The No. 2 was really good on short runs, but we could run him down.”

Keselowski finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth completing the top five.

A tense afternoon saw many swings in the standings, but when the AAA 400 concluded, AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola were eliminated from the playoffs.

Several times in the latter laps, Busch and Kasey Kahne yo-yoed the final transfer spot, but an ill-handling car caused Busch to backslide to 18th. Kahne, who once was four laps down, rallied to finish 20th.

Kahne finished two points ahead of Allmendinger and six clear of Busch.

“We sucked all day today,” said Allmendinger, who was uncompetitive finishing 23rd. “We didn’t deserve to make it. I’m not disappointed we didn’t make it; I’m just disappointed we ran this bad today. We just weren’t good enough.”

Said Busch: “It was tight the last 100 miles. I thought we were in a good position to advance, but you just can’t expect to advance by running 18th. We don’t get to advance to the championship but we can still run for pride. ... I just chalk it up to me and not getting the job done.”

The 12 drivers advancing to the Chase Round 2 were: Keselowski, Logano, Harvick, Johnson, Gordon, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kahne. All 12 will have their points reset to 3,000.

Kansas Speedway hosts the opening race of Round 2, Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. ET.