DOVER, Del. - Ryan Newman refused to say that he had to win Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway to stay in the Nextel Cup championship chase, but he drove like it.

Rarely out of the lead and never out of the top five, Newman won the MBNA America 400 for his second victory this season and trimmed his deficit in the points standings. Last week he failed to finish because of a blown engine that dropped him well behind the series leaders. Now, Newman and the other title contenders chase Jeff Gordon, whose third-place finish put him one point ahead of Kurt Busch. Newman moved up a spot to eighth and is 107 points behind Gordon after cutting 29 points off the leader's advantage.

While Newman breathed a quick sigh of relief, Jimmie Johnson seethed and Matt Kenseth was peeved.

NASCAR caught Johnson speeding on pit road on lap 173 of the 400-lap race. Johnson, who was fourth at the time, had to drive back down pit road within the 35-mph speed limit as the field raced by. Johnson lost a lap, fell back to 19th and finished 10th.

Kenseth spun entering pit road on lap 120 and slammed into tractor tires and water barrels, crunching the front of his car. He called the wreck "a dumb mistake." Kenseth lost 53 laps as his team made repairs and finished 32nd. He fell from fourth to seventh in the standings.

Newman can relate to Kenseth's anguish. Newman spun trying to enter pit road while leading in this race in June. The mistake dropped Newman back in the pack, where he was caught in a multi-car crash.

This time, he made no mistakes. Now, if he can just keep that going.

"We can't finish 33rd and then first and then 33rd again," said Newman, who has failed to finish six races this season - more than any other title contender. "If we can finish in the top five in these last nine races ... then I can pretty much guarantee us a championship."

There was little doubt Newman had the best car as he led 325 laps, including 90 of the last 95. Even though he often enjoyed a large lead on second place, he never paced himself until the final five laps. At one point he radioed crew chief Matt Borland and asked about his time on the previous lap. Newman drove the 1-mile track without using brakes and wanted to see if it was faster than he had been running. It wasn't.

"We'll go into Talladega with the same mindset we came into here," said Newman, who won both Dover races last year. "That's to try to lead the most laps, have a good qualifying effort and try to win."

He was good enough this time to keep runner-up Mark Martin from winning. Gordon, Dale Jarrett and Kurt Busch completed the top five.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who entered the race as the co-points leader with Busch, finished ninth and dropped to third. Earnhardt trails Gordon by 18 points. Five drivers are no more than 57 points off the lead and seven are within 100 points.

Gordon grabbed the points lead because Jarrett passed Busch for fourth with six laps to go. That cost Busch five points and dropped him behind Gordon, who struggled most of the day. Early in the race, Gordon radioed his crew that he didn't know what fixes to suggest because his car handled so poorly. Gordon didn't make it into the top 10 until after 100 laps. Once in it, he never fell out of it.

"It was a great fight for us," he said. "Team effort-wise, I couldn't have been more happy with the way things turned out for us to come home third."

While pleased with the outcome, Gordon is weary of Newman.

"If Ryan Newman does what he did anymore then he'll be right back in the thick of things," Gordon said. "You can afford to have a bad weekend if you can come back and dominate like that."