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"We ended up having a motor problem on Friday," Elliott said. "We qualified well and had to go to the back.
 | Pop Secret 400 |  | Matt Kenseth snags his first Winston Cup championship
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|  | Bill Elliott celebrates his first win of the season
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|  | Johnson finishes second to one of his heroes
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"I said, 'Man, we've got a good race car here today if it all plays out.' It finally played out in our hand."
Elliott used good fortune on two long green-flag segments, the second of which left a number of the top teams down a lap.
With only seven cars on the lead lap after spins by Larry Foyt and Tony Stewart brought out the caution, Elliott's crew -- which won Saturday's pit crew championship -- came through when it counted, putting the No. 9 Dodge out in front of Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet.
On two restarts, Elliott was able to put some distance between himself and Johnson, winning by 1.230 seconds.
"I knew Jimmie Johnson would be tough to beat on a short run," Elliott said. "I felt like I had a better car after 40 or 50 laps on the second side of the run. He was good on the first side.
"We finally got it adjusted and got good there at the end. We did what we had to do. The pit crew did an excellent job getting me in and out there at the end and put it all together."
Johnson said he thought a decision to change air pressures on the final stop would give him an advantage on the final restart.
"(Crew chief Chad Knaus) made some pretty aggressive moves with the air pressure in the tires and I was a little bit better than Bill," Johnson said. "I thought maybe I could have gotten by him but the caution came out immediately. Under the yellow, his tires had enough time then to come up to pressure and I didn't have an advantage any more."
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| Jimmie Johnson moved into second place after Rockingham. Credit: Autostock |
Still, Johnson's second-place finish allowed him to move into second place in the Winston Cup standings. He now has a 38-point advantage over Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"We're trying to get to second place in the points and Junior has been extremely consistent," Johnson said. "I know he's going to be tough at Homestead. Ryan (Newman) will be tough. It's going to be a good battle at the end."
The race started under sunny but brisk conditions and there were 77 laps before the first caution. However, once Derrike Cope spun to bring out the first yellow, things got a little rough from there.
Four laps into the next full-speed run, Newman and Jeff Gordon banged and bumped, with Newman getting the worst of it and Gordon serving a one-lap penalty for rough driving.
Then Kurt Busch and Casey Mears got together to set off one caution, Jeff Burton ended up backward on the frontstretch on another restart, and Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray ended up against the backstretch pit wall after another incident.
In all, there were 30 caution laps in a span of 42 laps of the race.
Once everything settled down, Elliott continued his charge to the front. By lap 160, he was third. He led for the first time on lap 186, then traded the lead with Johnson and Newman before grabbing the point for good on lap 370. He led 140 of the 397 laps.
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