Dover, DE (Best E Casino) - For the second consecutive week a first-time winner made it to Victory Lane. Last week it was Casey Mears and on Monday Martin Truex Jr. captured the rain-delayed Autism Speaks 400 at the Dover International Speedway. The No.1 DEI Chevrolet driver crossed the finish line 7.355 seconds ahead of Ryan Newman.

The victory was the first of Truex Jr.'s 58-race Nextel Cup career.

"It feels good, it was a long time coming," said Truex Jr. "We unloaded and struggled a little bit. We threw everything we knew at it. We weren't the fastest car in "Happy Hour" but we could run."

Newman finally brought the field to the green flag almost 24 hours after the race was scheduled to drop the green flag after rain postponed Sunday's race.

Newman led 27 laps, but Carl Edwards was on the move. The winner of the Busch Series race on Saturday, passed Bobby Labonte and Dale Earnhardt Jr for second place on the opening laps. Also charging through the field was Truex Jr. who started 26th, but was up to 13th when the first caution flag flew.

Following the pit stops, Kasey Kahne was first out and took over the lead. At the other end of the spectrum was 2006 Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson who was forced to pit twice and sat in 38th place.

Newman retook the lead on lap 56 and held it through the second caution flag on lap 67.

During the second caution, Kevin Harvick's No.29 Chevy stayed on pit lane with an electrical problem. Kyle Busch also went a lap down when the team was forced to make a shock change.

Newman's lead was 1.014 seconds over Edwards and Earnhardt Jr. after 80 laps. Truex Jr. was up to seventh place and Tony Stewart had just cracked the top-10.

However, on lap 108 Edwards flew past Newman for the lead. Then on lap 111, "Junior" suffered a flat right-rear tire and went two laps down to ruin his day.

Truex Jr. was now pressuring Newman for second and on lap 118 he also got around the pole winner. He didn't stop there and went after Edwards. His No.1 Chevrolet was working the bottom of the track to perfection and he drove around Edwards on lap 126.

Truex Jr., Newman and Edwards were still the strongest cars on the track as the field passed the 150-lap mark. Twenty laps later they were still the lead trio, but Stewart was fifth and on the move while Johnson had made his way up to 10th.

At the mid-point, Truex Jr. was beginning to run away with the race. He was more than four seconds ahead of Edwards and six over Newman. He was still more than two seconds ahead on lap 230, but was having trouble getting around Mears which allowed Edwards to cut his lead in half. Truex Jr. finally got around Mears on lap 238 and began to rebuild his big lead.

Truex Jr.'s torrid pace left just 13 cars on the lead lap as they passed the 250-lap mark. Edwards seemed to be the only driver who could keep up with Truex Jr.

The long green-flag run ended when Stewart and Kurt Busch got together on lap 270 to bring out a caution flag.

The No.12 Penske pit crew got Newman off pit road ahead of Truex Jr. and they stayed one-two through 294 laps. But Truex Jr. was on a mission and retook the lead on lap 295 by cutting underneath him in turn three.

By lap 310 Truex, Jr. had again built the gap to more than two seconds. There were just 11 cars on the lead lap and Truex Jr. was threatening to lap Kahne, the 11th-place car.

With 75 laps to go Truex Jr. had built the lead to more than three seconds when Ward Burton slammed the outside wall to bring out a yellow flag and erase his big lead.

For the third time, Penske's pit crew won the battle on pit lane and Newman had the lead. But Truex Jr. and Edwards were still right behind. They raced six laps before Michael Waltrip spun to bring out caution flag number six. Waltrip, in his first race since Daytona, managed to avoid the inside wall and the all the other drivers and kept going.

The restart took place with 58 laps to go. Newman got off to a great start and built a six-length gap. Truex Jr. did not go away and began to chop into the margin. By lap 346 he was back on his rear bumper. Two laps later he tapped Newman's rear bumper and ducked to the bottom of the track for the lead.

Truex Jr.'s lead was already more than one second at lap 350. Behind Newman a new challenger was coming - Johnson. Johnson slipped under Edwards for third place with 46 laps remaining and he was lapping faster than Newman.

David Gilliland and Ricky Rudd brought out a caution flag to slow the field on lap 355. The five leaders elected to stay on the track and not pit, but Jeff Gordon in sixth and all those behind him came in for new rubber.

There were 14 cars on the lead lap, but in reality only three cars had a shot at the win. Truex Jr. led them to the green flag and right from the start he built a four-length lead. In one lap he doubled the gap between himself and Newman.

Meanwhile, Newman had his hands full trying to stay ahead of Johnson. Johnson seemed faster, but he couldn't complete the pass. Finally, Johnson made the pass and he had 32 laps to catch Truex Jr. The gap to Truex Jr. was 1.893 seconds with 30 laps to go.

Truex Jr. was not only holding off Johnson, he was building on the lead. With 25 laps to go the gap was 2.569 seconds and four laps later it was 3.800 seconds.

Without a caution flag or a Truex Jr. mistake, there was nobody that could catch the two-time Busch Series champion. Johnson blew a right-side tire trying and came to pit lane leaving Truex Jr. with a four-second lead on Newman.

Four miles to go and Truex Jr.'s first Nextel Cup victory was in sight. The lead was 6.119 seconds. There were no caution flags over the final laps and Truex Jr. cruised to the win.

"We knew we had a good car on the long runs and I was just praying, praying, praying for no cautions at the end and fortunately it worked out," said Truex Jr.

"Congratulations to Martin, he did an excellent job, he's an excellent driver," said Newman. "We just have to keep working on it...keep digging."

Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth completed the top-five.

Jeff Gordon finished ninth and holds a 152-point lead over Johnson as the series gets set to race at the Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 10th.