DOVER, Del. -- Mark Martin won Sunday's MBNA 400 “A Salute to Heroes” at Dover International Speedway, scoring his 34th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 579th start. His last victory came at Charlotte, 73 races ago.

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Mark Martin celebrates his win in the MBNA 400: A Salute to Heroes at Dover International Speedway. (Photo Credit: Sherryl Creekmore/NASCAR)

Martin became the eighth different race winner in 2004 with his first victory of the season and his fifth top-10 finish in 2004.

Martin scored his fourth victory in 36 races at Dover International Speedway. He last won at Dover in September 1999. Twenty-three of his 34 victories (68 percent) have occurred on superspeedways.

Martin posted his 21st top-10 finish in 36 races at Dover International Speedway.

Martin led one time, leading the final 19 of the 400 laps raced. Tony Stewart led 234 laps, leading the most laps for the third time in 2004 -- more than any other driver.

This is the fifth victory for Ford in 2004. Chevrolet has seven and Dodge has one.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., remained the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point leader and now leads by 98 points over second-place Jimmie Johnson. This is his eighth race as leader of the point standings and it is the largest points lead of the 2004 season.

Ten drivers are within 400 points of current point leader Dale Earnhardt Jr., in the countdown to the Chase for the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Championship.

Tony Stewart (second) scored his seventh top-10 finish in 2004. He scored his 10th top-10 finish in 11 races at Dover International Speedway, including top-five finishes in his last four races here.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (third) scored his 10th top-10 finish in 2004. Earnhardt Jr., has scored top-10 finishes in each of his last three races this season and four top-10 finishes in nine races at Dover.

Jeff Burton (fourth) scored his second top-10 finish in 2004. He posted his first top-five finish since he finished fourth at Richmond last September. Burton has scored eight top-10 finishes in 21 races at Dover International Speedway.

Scott Riggs (fifth) scored his career-first top-five finish in 13 races. It was his first race at Dover International Speedway. He was the highest finishing rookie for the first time in 2004.

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Mark Martin takes the checkered flag as he wins the MBNA 400: A Salute to Heroes at Dover International Speedway. (Photo Credit: Sherryl Creekmore/NASCAR)

Michael Waltrip (sixth) scored his fourth top-10 finish in 2004. It marked his third straight top-10 finish, extending a streak that began at Richmond It was only his eighth top-10 finish in 37 races at Dover.

Kevin Harvick (10th) extended his streak of running at the finish in 52 straight races, a streak that began at Rockingham in November 2002.

Matt Kenseth (22nd) has ranked among the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Top 10 in 48 straight races.

Jeff Gordon (36th) posted his second straight finish of 30th or worse.

Jimmie Johnson (32nd) ended a six-race streak of top-10 finishes that began at Texas. This was Johnson’s second DNF in 2004.

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Leader bonus will be worth $ 30,000 at Pocono Raceway.

RESULTS

Results Sunday from the "MBNA 400 - A Salute to Heroes" NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway, showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, manufacturer, laps completed, money won and reason out (if any):

1. (7) 6 Mark Martin, Ford, 400, $271,900.
2. (10) 20 Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 400, $227,978.
3. (26) 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 400, $186,828.
4. (22) 99 Jeff Burton, Ford, 400, $149,172.
5. (23) 10 Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 400, $126,487.
6. (8) 15 Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 399, $123,611.
7. (34) 5 Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 399, $118,335.
8. (1) 19 Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 399, $116,065.
9. (21) 22 Scott Wimmer, Dodge, 398, $104,110.
10. (33) 29 Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 398, $116,538.
11. (29) 88 Dale Jarrett, Ford, 398, $107,967.
12. (11) 97 Kurt Busch, Ford, 398, $91,535.
13. (4) 2 Rusty Wallace, Dodge, 398, $114,578.
14. (24) 31 Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 398, $106,022.
15. (9) 42 Jamie McMurray, Dodge, 397, $82,510.
16. (31) 32 Ricky Craven, Chevrolet, 395, $93,310.
17. (41) 4 Jimmy Spencer, Chevrolet, 392, $82,125.
18. (6) 38 Elliott Sadler, Ford, 391, $106,243.
19. (25) 0 Ward Burton, Chevrolet, 391, $70,285.
20. (37) 30 Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 386, $79,585.
21. (12) 9 Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 381, $103,960, accident.
22. (39) 17 Matt Kenseth, Ford, 381, $115,913, accident.
23. (3) 25 Brian Vickers, Chevrolet, 380, $76,810, accident.
24. (2) 12 Ryan Newman, Dodge, 374, $111,297.
25. (18) 18 Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 370, $108,938.
26. (40) 16 Greg Biffle, Ford, 370, $74,005.
27. (5) 77 Brendan Gaughan, Dodge, 361, $73,355.
28. (17) 41 Casey Mears, Dodge, 356, $73,194.
29. (16) 40 Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 352, $97,155, accident.
30. (28) 21 Ricky Rudd, Ford, 351, $88,061, accident.
31. (19) 43 Jeff Green, Dodge, 349, $87,605, accident.
32. (14) 48 Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 345, $80,995, accident.
33. (27) 23 Dave Blaney, Dodge, 344, $61,045, accident.
34. (15) 49 Ken Schrader, Dodge, 337, $60,860.
35. (36) 50 Mike Wallace, Dodge, 239, $61,570, wheel bearing.
36. (13) 24 Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 221, $107,908, accident.
37. (30) 45 Kyle Petty, Dodge, 217, $60,375, handling.
38. (32) 1 Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 156, $68,265, accident.
39. (43) 72 Kirk Shelmerdine, Ford, 53, $60,155, handling.
40. (35) 9 Tony Raines, Dodge, 50, $60,025, vibration.
41. (38) 51 Kevin Lepage, Chevrolet, 38, $59,895, transmission.
42. (42) 89 Morgan Shepherd, Dodge, 9, $59,800, handling.
43. (20) 94 Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 2, $59,684, drive shaft.

TIME OF RACE: 4 hours, 7 minutes, 19 seconds.
AVERAGE SPEED: 97.042 mph.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.702 seconds.
CAUTION FLAGS: 11 for 90 laps.
LEAD CHANGES: 13 among 9 drivers.
LAP LEADERS: Mayfield 1-18; Vickers 19-25; Mayfield 26-33; J. Burton 34-48; Stewart 49-118; Mayfield 119-150; Stewart 151-160; Marlin 161; Stewart 162-315; Johnson 316; Newman 317-325; Mayfield 326-345; Kahne 346-381; Martin 382-400.
POINTS STANDINGS (top 10): Earnhardt 1963, Johnson 1865, Kenseth 1784, Stewart 1767, J. Gordon 1709, Busch 1648, Sadler 1646, B. Labonte 1642, Harvick 1632, Newman 1596.
BUD POLE AWARD: Mayfield, 161.522 mph.