Truex making progress

DOVER, Del. -- Martin Truex Jr. finally can see the light.

And that's not just talking about the dark clouds lifting Sunday afternoon that had Dover International Speedway for much of the weekend.

After running strong the entire race, Truex finished eighth in Sunday's FedEx 400 - the first time this season he has posted consecutive top-10 finishes. (He was 10th at Darlington, S.C., on May 7.)

He likely held much more promise for this season, but considering where Truex and his team were just three weeks ago, the recent performance is an eye-opener.

"That's two weeks in a row we got a strong top-10 finish," said Truex, who is 19th in series points, 46 outside the top 10. "The good thing is we've been running like this all year long. We've had top-10 and top-five cars just about every week.

"Yeah, the mistakes hurt. But we can overcome it. This team is awesome, and they bring me super race cars every week."

Truex got extremely upset with the crew on his No. 56 Toyota during the April 30 at Richmond, Va., when he had to come back down pit road after a slow pit stop to fix a broken stud on his car. Before he came down pit road Truex yelled at his crew over his team radio: "You're all (expletive) fired."

Truex endured problems with loose wheels in previous races and had a bad wreck at Martinsville, Va., when the throttle hung on his car.

The team made pit-crew changes that went into effect at Darlington, and Truex has been incident-free for two races.

"I think we can win some races and maybe make the Chase [for the Sprint Cup]; we've been knocking on the door. I feel like at Richmond, we really let one slip away," Truex said. "There have been a lot more races than that we're I've had one of the best cars and not been able to win. We're going to keep pushing forward. We're really clicking right now."

Still on the outside: Denny Hamlin, who fell a whisker short of winning the Sprint Cup title last season, has moved up to 13th in the series standings, but again Sunday, he was a nonfactor in the race. He has just one top-five finish in 11 races.

Fans still struggling: Sunday's race illustrated that although the economy has rebounded in some parts of the nation, other parts still struggle, especially with the continued high cost of gasoline.

Dover International Speedway was barely half full, a far cry from a half-dozen years ago when it was one of the biggest traffic nightmares in the Cup series because of the fan turnout.

Kyle Busch rallies from way back: An engine change early in the weekend forced Kyle Busch to have to start Sunday's race from the rear of the field - not a good position anywhere, particularly Dover.

However, he slowly progressed through the field. When drivers took varied pit strategies on the final pit stop on lap 363, Busch's team went with four new tires. He restarted 12th and finished fourth.

"We were trying to get the best-driving car we could get so I could make something happen (on the final stop)," Busch said. "Fortunately, we made something happen.

"That was the only opportunity I had to make up ground was on the restarts. This was the weirdest Dover race in a long time. You couldn't make anything work. You were pretty much stuck."

Ambrose looking ahead: Marcos Ambrose finished third Sunday, tying his career-best in the Cup series on an oval track.

A stellar road racer, Ambrose has made great strides on oval tracks since moving to the Cup series full time in 2009.

"I am really excited that our team is learning. They are learning me, and I am learning them. I am learning how these cars work," he said. "This result today I am really excited about because I think it is going to lead to a great Charlotte, Pocono, Indy, Kansas, all those tracks coming up.

"I feel like we are suited to those tracks, and I am excited about it."

Tough day for Smith: There was no second consecutive victory for Regan Smith, who drove to his first Cup victory at Darlington.

Smith dealt with electrical problems on his No. 78 Chevrolet and eventually had to go to the garage for repairs. He finished 34th.

"We were definitely in position to make a late-race charge and get a nice finish out of this race," he said. "I think we were running 16th when the (track bar) mount broke.

"It hurts because we had a good car and wanted to continue the momentum from last week's win in Darlington."

Crew member released: Glen Wheeler, one of the pit crew for Kevin Harvick Inc. who was injured by a piece of debris following a violent last-lap wreck in Saturday's Nationwide race, was released Sunday from a Dover, Del., hospital.

Wheeler, who works with driver Clint Bowyer's team, was hit by a spring when Bowyer's car wrecked hard with Joe Logano and went airborne.

No Johnson's day: Jimmie Johnson has the Monster mastered like no other driver.

Just not Sunday.

Johnson led a race-high 207 laps but ended up finishing ninth on the concrete track dubbed The Monster Mile.

"Led a lot of laps but unfortunately, not the one at the end that counted," Johnson said.

Johnson's six wins at Dover are second behind only Bobby Allison and Richard Petty. He started from the pole and was on his way toward a run at No. 7. Only Carl Edwards gave him a challenge - he led 117 laps - until both were done in by pit stop strategy at the end. They took four tires when Matt Kenseth for two. That was enough to spark Kenseth into Victory Lane - and the second-guessing to being for the other drivers.

Johnson called the result of crew chief Chad Knaus' decision, "no big deal."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.