Jeff Burton nipped at leader Matt Kenseth's bumper in the waning laps, ducked beneath him, pulled side-by-side and still kept falling behind.
It wasn't until six laps were left that Burton finally scooted by with the critical pass. Not that he even needed it: Kenseth ran out of gas, anyway.
Burton finally found his way back to Victory Lane at Dover International Speedway after the thrilling late battle, ending his 175-race winless streak and parking himself in the lead of NASCAR's Chase for the championship.
``We've got eight to go, this still isn't over,'' said Burton, who took a slim, six-point lead over Jeff Gordon, the polesitter, who finished third.
It may be over, though, for the likes of Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. _ each of whom had his own problems to fall all but out of the Chase.
Kenseth, who was going for a clean sweep at Dover International Speedway this season and led the most laps, stayed in third in the points standings with a 10th-place finish. He rendered Burton's pass moot when he ran out of fuel with two laps left, losing a gamble that he could drive the final 100 laps without a pit stop.
Burton and his Richard Childress racing teammate Kevin Harvick spent this weekend denying a Speed TV report that claimed their teams manipulated wheels to gain a performance advantage in New Hampshire. Both drivers insisted it wouldn't be a distraction, and Burton came out with something to prove at the Dover 400.
Burton came in with a whopping 637 laps led this season, but no victories. He wasn't won a Cup race since Oct. 28, 2001.
Carl Edwards finished second. Gordon moved up two spots in the Chase with his second-place finish.
``The effort was unbelievable, the fight was unbelievable, we didn't have the best car,'' Gordon said.
Kevin Harvick, the points leader coming into Sunday, was knocked out of the race with a blown engine. Harvick, who won the last two races, plummeted to fifth.
It wasn't much easier for the rest of the contenders on The Monster Mile.
Make that former contenders.
Kahne plowed into another car. Busch blew an engine. Earnhardt battled an unruly setup. One by one, drivers already near the rear of the Chase standings dropped out or dropped back.
Kahne wrecked with defending champion Tony Stewart, who did not make the Chase this season, only 11 laps into the race. His car spent more than an hour in the garage before he returned. Busch retired his No. 5 before the halfway point with engine problems.
Both declared their hopes for a championship dead.
``We're done,'' Busch said.
Added Kahne: ``No more championship.''
Almost all the Chase drivers ran into some sort of trouble. Jimmie Johnson's crew had a pit road tire mishap that dropped him all the way back to 40th. He steadily raced his way back to the front on the high-banked concrete oval, and finished 13th. Earnhardt had all sorts of tire issues and finished 21st. Earnhardt is seventh and Johnson eighth in the points standings.
It seems there will be only a handful of contenders down the stretch. The field could thin out even more next week at Kansas.
Kenseth grabbed the lead on lap 264 after leader Greg Biffle pitted on a green. Kenseth pitted under yellow for four tires and fuel with 101 laps left and tried to make it the rest of the way.
``We had some electrical problems that cost us the lead, some fans going out and stuff, but we didn't have enough gas to get there anyway,'' Kenseth said.
Kenseth had a similar gamble pay off in his June win at Dover. In that one, he overruled his crew chief who wanted Kenseth to pit on the final caution, and zipped past contenders for the win. This time, Kenseth and crew chief Robbie Reiser were in agreement.
