AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Martin Truex Jr. was one of three drivers who dominated the Checker Auto Parts 500, none of whom were winner Jimmie Johnson, but a late strategy call to stay on the racetrack when most of the trailing leaders did not doomed the man who led 72 laps in his No. 1 Chevrolet, before finishing seventh.

Matt Kenseth led a race-high 93 laps and his Roush Racing teammate Carl Edwards led the race's first 87 laps before his car's engine failed.

"We had an awesome car all day long [but] the cautions didn't fall the way we needed them to," Truex said. "We lost our track position there that one time and could never really get it back.

Truex last led from Laps 270-288, before Johnson took over for the final 24 laps.

"It was unfortunate at the end," Truex said. "We stayed out. We were taking a gamble. If we pitted I don't think we could have won so we stayed out and tried to do what we could do [but] we were a sitting duck there at the end."

Johnson won his fourth consecutive race by being best when it counted but Truex, who started the race on the outside of the front row for the fourth time this season, said that didn't factor into his crew chief, Kevin Manion's, decision.

"Well, we were trying to beat everyone, not just him -- I thought that we had a better car than he did all day," Truex said. "It seems like at the end they get something extra from somewhere. I don't know where it's from but they've been doing it lately."

Manion stepped up to take responsibility for the call.

"It was my decision," Manion said. "I wanted to stay out. The car was at its best and the tires only had 26 green-flag laps on them. I thought that was our best chance -- I absolutely thought more guys would stay out. We had only just run a short little run, but it proved to be wrong."

Not fancy passing

Sunday's race had only 10 lead changes, and precious few of them occurred via green-flag racing. Third-place finisher Kenseth blamed the equality fostered by the Car of Tomorrow.

"The cars are all so close to the same speed," said Kenseth, who posted his fourth consecutive top-five finish. (read more)

"You build this rules package and you make everything the same aerodynamically and they give you so little stuff to adjust that all the cars are gonna be closer to the same speed than when you have cars you can adjust and work on more stuff.

"The closer they are to the same speed, the harder it's gonna be to pass. That's easy to figure out. If everybody is running the same speed, how are you gonna pass? It's just little things to get your car better and to get out front."

Kenseth pointed out that the race last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, which had 28 lead changes among twice as many drivers as Sunday (12) as an example of what adjustability enabled.

"That's what we had last week, so I don't know -- for the racing, that's kind of what we had," Kenseth said. "[The COT] has taken away a lot of the adjustments that we used to have [but] the fact is, we're gonna race them all the time next year and that's about what you're gonna see for racing.

"I think the racing is still good. I think it's really competitive; it's just different than what we're accustomed to driving and different than what you guys are accustomed to seeing. I don't know if that's necessarily better or worse, it's just different."

Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle, who finished second, agreed with Kenseth's sentiment about trying to pass in the COT. (read more)

Perseverance pays, a little

Edwards led the first 87 laps of the race from the Bud Pole, but shortly after he pitted under caution, his car was back on pit road with a horrible miss in the engine. His crew sent him back to the garage where one of the Roush Yates engine technicians said "we put it back together well enough for him to run some more."

That wasn't much more, but it did enable Edwards to get out of last place -- though he did finish 42nd after completing only 125 laps. It amounted to his fourth DNF of the season, and the third due to engine failure.

"That's a great racecar -- that thing is awesome," Edwards said after falling from fifth to ninth in the standings.

"It was something important in the engine. I don't know what it is, but we don't have many engine failures.

"It's too bad to have one on this day -- I would have welcomed one at Texas last week [when he started 21st and finished 26th, three laps down] -- but to have it [Sunday] ...

"I could go just about as fast as I wanted, so you don't get that very often. It's too bad it blew up."

Newman's second five

After scoring his second consecutive top-five finish, and his seventh of the season, Ryan Newman said he was satisfied, but was still looking for better performances, which would enable him to break his current 80-race winless skein. Pit strategy enabled him to finish fifth Sunday.

"We knew that we were good enough to get track position with the disadvantage -- with two tires or with fuel only and that was OK," Newman said. "I wasn't mad about that, but I wish we just had that extra little speed so we could get on everyone else's strategy -- you know, being able to take two tires when everybody takes two, or take four when they take four.

"We're getting closer to that -- it's just a matter of time. To have a top-five finish is great. To build on another top-five finish, that's two in a row, that's really great. I don't know if we've done that all year, so to finish up at least two out of three would be great."

Newman actually scored consecutive second-place finishes in June, with the COT at Dover and then the next weekend at Pocono, with the "standard" car.

"I think both Penske teams have been good all year with the Car of Tomorrow," Newman said. "We haven't had the greatest finishes, but we've been competitive. Hopefully, we can build on that for next year in the Car of Tomorrow on those short tracks, but more importantly have a leg up on the intermediate tracks."

Autostock

Sterling Marlin

Marlin finds part-time ride

Veteran Sterling Marlin wanted to do a limited schedule of Sprint Cup racing next season, and according to Phoenix Racing general manager and crew chief Marc Reno, Marlin will get to do more than that for owner James Finch.

Reno was feeling optimistic after his organization, which runs two full-time teams in the Busch Series but only makes intermittent trips to the Cup Series, tested at Memphis Motorsports Park and then came to Phoenix to make its first Car of Tomorrow attempt.

Marlin qualified 29th for the Checker Auto Parts 500, and six teams with about 200 more attempts this season than Finch's bunch, went home. Marlin ended up 25th, the first car one lap down.

It's got Reno and company anticipating 2008 already, although first they'll attempt their South Florida sponsor's home race next weekend at Homestead, with Marlin.

"We've got a Hendrick's car and motor for there, and we've signed a Hendrick [Motorsports] engine deal for next year," Reno said. "We got a car and a motor from them for Homestead. That will be the first time we use a Hendrick's motor -- this was a Childress motor.

"We've got at least nine Cup races scheduled with [the Miccosukee Resort in South Florida], and we may do more next season if we get the sponsorship. We'll do the four speedway races [two apiece at Daytona and Talladega], the two road courses, Bristol, Richmond and Homestead.

"Sterling will probably do most of them, but he doesn't want to road race, and before we knew Sterling was available we picked two of the road races, because we figured those were easier to get into. So we'll probably put in Max Papis or [Scott] Pruett."

The Miccosukee Tribe will back Finch's Nationwide team for the third consecutive season.

"The Indians are going to sponsor our 1 car [in the 2008 Nationwide Series] and at this point, Johnny Sauter is going to drive one of our [Nationwide] cars full time. If we've got enough sponsorship, Sterling and Johnny will drive full time; and if not, Sterling's gonna drive part-time in our second car."

Reno said the second Nationwide Series car would use the 4 branding that Finch had previously used with Jeff Purvis, as the team opted to let Mike Wallace take the No. 7 he used this season in a Finch car with Geico sponsorship to another team, while Phoenix would keep the owner points the car accrued.