NASCAR NEXTEL: Johnson Leads the Chase With Win at Dover

DOVER, Del. September 25, 2005; The AP reported that Jimmie Johnson held off teammate Kyle Busch by about a car-length Sunday to claim victory at Dover International Speedway -- and the lead in NASCAR's Chase for the championship.

Tony Stewart, the Nextel Cup points leader for the last seven races, battled an ill-handling car en route to a 18th-place finish that dropped him to fifth in the championship standings.

There would be no perfect weekend for Ryan Newman, who won poles for both races here this weekend and was coming off a victory in a Busch Series race Saturday. Newman won the opening event in the Chase a week earlier, outdueling Stewart in a stirring finish at New Hampshire International Speedway.

The victory in the MBNA 400 was the third this year for Johnson, who now leads Rusty Wallace by seven points after two of 10 races in the Chase among the top-10 drivers. Johnson also won for the third time at Dover and 17th overall.

Stewart came to The Monster Mile 20 points ahead of Greg Biffle, who won here in June. Stewart is now tied with Biffle, who cut a tire and finished 13th. They're 23 points behind Johnson.

Johnson went to the front on the 375th lap by passing Mark Martin. Both had pitted a few laps earlier under caution, but Johnson took four tires and after the restart easily outraced Martin, who took only two.

Rookie Busch and Wallace also passed Martin, who's fourth in the points, 21 back. Newman led the first 30 laps Sunday, but faded badly before recovering to finish fifth and stand third, 12 points behind the leader.

Just before the halfway mark, Roush Racing topped the scoreboard with Biffle, Kurt Busch, Martin and Matt Kenseth running 1-2-3-4. There has never been such a finish of teammates in NASCAR history.

Johnson, who started fifth in a field of 43, led 134 of 404 laps in the $5 million race. His Chevrolet beat that of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Busch by 0.080 seconds in a race extended for a green-white-checker finish after Joe Nemechek wrecked on lap 398.

Finishing third on the high-banked concrete oval was Wallace in a Dodge, followed by the Ford of Martin and Newman's Dodge.

The winner averaged 115.054 mph in a race slowed 11 times by 50 laps of caution. There were 15 lead changes among seven drivers.

Completing the top 10 were Elliott Sadler, Jeremy Mayfield, Kyle Petty, Carl Edwards and Casey Mears.

Reigning series champion Busch led 192 laps, but cut a tire and finished 23rd. He's 10th in the standings, 170 points behind.