Dover NASCAR Sprint Cup: Truex dominates as Chase field down to 12

Truex, who has now won two of the three races in the Chase this season, lapped every driver outside of the top six as he proved the man to beat.

Having battled successfully against Kyle Busch in the first stint, Truex could not build a gap to Jimmie Johnson amid a run of cautions and was then passed around the outside by the Hendrick driver at a restart.

But Johnson, who has won 10 times at Dover, received a penalty for his crew jumping over the wall too early during a pitstop and this dropped him a lap down, while Truex inherited the lead and then left the field behind.

Kyle Busch's superior speed on the outside line helped at times but as the race progressed he could not keep pace with Truex and had to settle for second ahead of the consistently strong Chase Elliott.

Polesitter Brad Keselowski implemented a safety first approach to finish fourth ahead of Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano, who had trouble free races - all three cruising through to the next stage of the title fight.

Austin Dillon was relieved after his eighth place behind Johnson ensured he was successful in reaching the 'Round of 12' as the last driver above the cut-off point in the standings.

Jamie McMurray was one of the four drivers who didn't make it. Mid-way through a tight battle with fellow Chase contender Dillon, he lost power and eventually had to retire his Ganassi Chevrolet with an engine problem.

His team-mate Kyle Larson also exited the Chase. He was forced to take a penalty immediately after the first caution for having too many men attend his car in the pits and later hit the wall on the way to a distant 25th.

Chase underdog Chris Buescher dropped out with another finish outside the top 20 in 23rd, while Dover proved to be the last race in which Tony Stewart would have a shot at a championship. Thirteenth place kept the three-time champion in the bottom four and therefore out in his final Cup season before retirement.

Veteran Chase competitors Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch all advanced with clean drives to ninth, 14th and 15th respectively while Kevin Harvick, who had already made the 'Round of 12' after winning last weekend at New Hampshire, was running third but had to pull his Stewart-Haas Chevrolet in due to a puncture and lost 43 laps receiving repairs.

Jeff Gordon was the highest place non-Chase runner in 10th.

RESULTS - 400 LAPS:

CHASE STANDINGS: