DARLINGTON, S.C. — Finally!

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 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 held a lead 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.

Johnson led Stewart to the green flag on Lap 366, with the Joe Gibbs Racing cars of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin in third and fourth, respectively.

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.

Hendrick Motorsports, one of Sprint Cup’s most powerful teams, had gone an incredible 16 races without No. 200. This was the 11th Cup race of the season and the team hadn’t had a winner between Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne since Johnson won at Kansas Speedway in October.

“I can’t believe we’ve won 200 of these things,” Hendrick said. “I can’t believe it took this long after 199.”

Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10.