Johnson outruns Martin to win at Dover

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DOVER, Del. -- Throughout his dreamlike rookie campaign, Jimmie Johnson has maintained that he'd just as soon never wake up.

And though he's tossed and turned at times this season, he proved Sunday that he's still resting quite comfortably.

	Johnson became the second rookie to score three Winston Cup victories. Credit: Autostock

By winning the MBNA All American Heroes 400 at Dover International Speedway, Johnson became the first rookie in Winston Cup Series history to sweep both races at a single venue -- not to mention becoming just the second pilot to ever record three wins in his inaugural campaign.

"To be this successful in our rookie year -- well, we've tried not to let it be at the forefront of our minds. But here we are, eight races to go and we're in the heat of this points battle," Johnson said.

"We need to make the most of it. Like today, we led the most laps and won the race. Hopefully we can break away a little bit, secure ourselves a good top-five finish in the points, if not a championship."

Johnson snagged the lead for the final time on lap 240 following a round of green flag pit stops, then set sail. Johnson cited that final stop as the determining factor.

"These races are won by teamwork -- (my crew) won the race for me today," Johnson said. "The top four cars were all equal. It came down to that pit stop. They got us out first and I was able to hang on. Clean air is always better."

It certainly was Sunday.

	Jerry Nadeau and Ward Burton got together coming off Turn 4 on lap 26. Both cars retired from the race.

Martin could get to Johnson, but he couldn't pass due to the dreaded aero push. That enabled the rookie driver to lead a race high 170 laps en route to his first victory since his triumph here June 2.

Martin made a serious challenge for the lead with five laps remaining, cutting Johnson's advantage to two-tenths of a second before the leaders came upon the lapped car of Sterling Marlin.

Johnson cleared Marlin, but Martin nearly hit him. Forced to jump on the brakes, Martin lost valuable ground, enabling Johnson to take the checkers a half second ahead of Martin.

"We could get to him, but we'd lose the front end with the aero push," Martin said. "It was a great run, we had great stops. We got ourselves in a pitiful hole there Friday with a dumb qualifying effort. Man, the 48 was fast at the end. Our car was pretty good."

Martin said that a team's decision not to adjust the car on the final stop may have cost him the win. And while he's hush-hush about the championship chase, he's far more concerned about winning that elusive first title than he is about winning a race at this point.

"We went conservative, didn't want anything to slip through our fingers," Martin said. "I didn't think we could win it. But had we made that adjustment, we might have."

	Rusty Wallace was running third when his tire blew, but he rallied back to finish 15th.

With the win, Johnson gains five points on Martin, but still trails the wily veteran by 30 points heading to Kansas City.

Tony Stewart finished fifth, enabling him to shoot past Sterling Marlin into third in the standings. He trails Martin by 74 points. Marlin now ranks fourth, 81 points out of the lead he held for 25 straight weeks.

Dale Jarrett finished third Sunday, followed by Matt Kenseth and Stewart in the top-five. Kenseth has now finished in the top-five in three of the past five races, including a win two weeks ago at Richmond.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led 85 of the first 100 laps Sunday, and led 116 laps overall, but his car steadily went away as the race wore on. By the 300-lap mark, Junior found himself four laps down in 31st position. The victim of a terribly loose machine, he finished 24th.

Jeff Gordon took a big hit in the championship chase, losing 123 points in the standings following an early-race accident Sunday. He spent 57 laps behind the wall repairing the car, and eventually finished 37th.

"We started out real tight, then got real loose, so we were bouncing back and forth," Gordon said. "This place changes a lot. I think we were set up for later. We were just hoping to hold our own."

	Jeff Gordon finished 37th and lost 123 points to Mark Martin in the title chase.

Ryan Newman had a tough day, as well, but battled back to an impressive eighth-place finish.

Newman was running second to Earnhardt Jr., on lap 53 when the No. 12 Ford got out from underneath him in Turn 2. He spun and nearly collected his teammate, Wallace, who somehow managed to lock up the brakes and avoid contact. Luckily for Newman, he was able to right the machine without hitting anyone or anything.

It only got worse following Gordon's aforementioned spin. Newman had to slam on the brakes to avoid the accident and flat spotted the tires. Hence, he had to pit again for four new tires.

After that, he settled in and battled back to post his fourth straight top-10 finish.