Johnson dominates at Dover

The reigning champion led 271 out of the scheduled 400 laps, looking unbeatable for most of the day after starting the race from pole position. Only Kurt Busch looked capable of beating Johnson when he claimed the lead in the early going, staying up front for 99 laps.

However once Johnson overtook Busch on lap 177, there was nobody stopping him from taking his fourth win of the season and the 44th of his career. His maximum score puts him only 10 points away from Martin in the Chase for the Sprint Cup following the second race of the playoff.

Martin finished second and he probably had the speed in the long runs to contend with Johnson. However some poor restarts in the closing stages dropped him down the order and once he was back up to second place, the leader was already too far ahead.

Matt Kenseth had his best race for a while and despite starting 23rd he was able to charge through the field on pure pace and with a bit of help from his crew during pitstops. On his final pitstop he was able to move up to third place and ran as high as second before losing out to Martin on the final green flag run.

Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out a strong weekend with fourth place, looking consistent among the top five all day. Unlike Loudon, where he was strong on restarts, this time he was better on the long runs, but probably not as quick as Johnson.

His result allows him to move up one spot in the Chase, where he now sits third, 65 points behind Martin.

Kurt Busch rounded out the top five and moved up to fourth in the Chase, while Jeff Gordon took advantage of a fresh set of tyres during the penultimate caution to move up to sixth at the flag, as most of the cars on the lead lap preferred to maintain track position.

Tony Stewart tried to make a similar gamble work for him on the final caution when he pitted from fifth to take on a new set of Goodyears. However from 12th on the final restart he was only able to move just inside the top-ten, which allowed him to gain one place in the Chase.

Denny Hamlin was the biggest loser in the standings, dropping a lap down almost halfway through the race. He was never able to get back on the lead lap and he now sits sixth in the Chase after arriving at Dover tied for second place.

The race was marked by an early multi-car wreck involving rookie Joey Logano. On lap 30 the 19-year-old got hit from behind by Tony Stewart after he tried to avoid getting into the back of Bobby Labonte who slowed down ahead of him.

The contact with Stewart sent Logano into a spin and when he hit the wall, Reed Sorenson's car somehow got underneath the rookie's Toyota. The Gibbs car flipped over seven times before coming to rest on the apron.

Logano was unhurt in the incident, as were the other drivers involved. Stewart's car was damaged but his team was able to repair a hole on his front bumper, which required an unscheduled stop under caution.

While Stewart recovered from that, his former team-mate Kyle Busch had a tough race after hitting the wall due to a faulty right-front tyre. A few laps later he visited the barrier once again and the damage was enough to keep him in the garage for a long time.

Pos  Driver             Car        Laps
 1.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet   400
 2.  Mark Martin        Chevrolet   400
 3.  Matt Kenseth       Ford        400
 4.  Juan Montoya       Chevrolet   400
 5.  Kurt Busch         Dodge       400
 6.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet   400
 7.  AJ Allmendinger    Dodge       400
 8.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge       400
 9.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet   400
10.  Ryan Newman        Chevrolet   400
11.  Carl Edwards       Ford        400
12.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet   400
13.  Greg Biffle        Ford        400
14.  Marcos Ambrose     Toyota      400
15.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet   400
16.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet   400
17.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet   400
18.  Brian Vickers      Toyota      400
19.  Paul Menard        Ford        400
20.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet   399
21.  David Reutimann    Toyota      398
22.  Denny Hamlin       Toyota      398
23.  Bobby Labonte      Ford        398
24.  David Ragan        Ford        396
25.  Scott Speed        Toyota      396
26.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dodge       395
27.  John Andretti      Chevrolet   395
28.  Jamie McMurray     Ford        394
29.  David Stremme      Dodge       385
30.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge       353
31.  Kyle Busch         Toyota      342
32.  Regan Smith        Chevrolet   337
33.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet   251
34.  Robby Gordon       Toyota      181
35.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge       170
36.  Michael Waltrip    Toyota       84 
37.  Dave Blaney        Toyota       76 
38.  Michael McDowell   Toyota       74 
39.  David Gilliland    Chevrolet    60 
40.  Mike Bliss         Dodge        54 
41.  Joe Nemechek       Toyota       51 
42.  Joey Logano        Toyota       30 
43.  Tony Raines        Dodge        13 


Chase For The Cup - Points Standings:

Pos  Driver              Change  Points
 1.  Mark Martin                  5400
 2.  Jimmie Johnson               5390  + 10 
 3.  Juan Montoya          +1     5335  + 65 
 4.  Kurt Busch            +1     5325  + 75 
 5.  Tony Stewart          +1     5294  +106
 6.  Denny Hamlin          -3     5292  +108
 7.  Ryan Newman                  5290  +110
 8.  Jeff Gordon           +2     5278  +122
 9.  Greg Biffle                  5262  +138
10.  Brian Vickers         -2     5249  +151
11.  Carl Edwards                 5247  +153
12.  Kasey Kahne                  5211  +189