DOVER, Del., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Rookie Jimmie Johnson took the lead just past the halfway mark Sunday and held on to win the NASCAR Winston Cup MBNA All-American Heroes 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway.
Johnson, who won the MBNA Platinum 400 here on June 2, became the eighth driver to sweep both races on the "Monster Mile" in the same year.
The 27-year-old Johnson joined the elite fraternity of Tony Stewart (2000), Jeff Gordon (1996), Rusty Wallace (1994), Dale Earnhardt (1989), Bill Elliott (1988), Bobby Allison (1983) and David Pearson (1973) in completing a Dover double.
It also was Johnson's third victory this year as he battles for the Winston Cup championship and Rookie of the Year honors.
Mark Martin finished second in a Ford and was followed by Dale Jarrett, Matt Kenseth and Stewart. Martin owns a 35-point lead over Johnson in the Winston Cup standings with eight races remaining.
Wallace started from the pole and was running third when a flat right front tire sent his No. 2 Ford into the outside wall in turn 2, prompting the sixth caution of the race on lap 318.
Johnson was out of the pits first in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo and maintained the lead for the ensuing restart with 72 laps left. He was followed by Jarrett, Martin, Stewart and Jeff Burton.
With 29 laps to go, Martin pulled onto the rear bumper of Johnson, whose large lead vanished while he was weaving through lapped traffic. Martin could not make a pass, however, as Johnson pulled away.
"Man, that 48 car (Johnson) was fast there at the end," Martin said. "I didn't really think we had a shot to win it."
The race featured the inaugural start of a Japanese driver in a Winston Cup points race. Hideo Fukuyama started 43rd in a Ford and completed 243 laps before calling it a day and finishing 39th.
On lap 65, John Andretti tagged the rear bumper of Todd Bodine, sending his Ford Taurus spinning off turn 4. Jeff Gordon also spun to avoid Bodine and his Chevrolet slid backwards into the infield retaining wall.
"We shouldn't have been back there in all that stuff anyway," said Gordon, who rejoined the field on lap 174 and finished 37th. "We were really struggling. We couldn't pass anybody. We were just trying to bide our time."
Ward Burton and Jerry Nadeau brought out the first caution on lap 27 when Nadeau's Dodge Intrepid grazed the outside wall and ricocheted down on Burton's Dodge, which slammed into the inside retaining wall.
"I don't know if he pinched me up into the wall or I just got into him, but we both wrecked," Nadeau said.
