Dover, Del. ? Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman badly are in need of strong finishes today at Dover International Speedway after bad luck a week earlier made them long shots to win the Nextel Cup championship.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that they’ll have a great chance to recoup lost points as front-row starters in the MBNA America 400.

Despite falling 142 points behind co-leaders Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. because he crashed after Robby Gordon intentionally wrecked Greg Biffle in New Hampshire, Mayfield is approaching today’s race as if nothing happened.

“We’re not worried about points now,” he said. “Points are not even in our vocabulary.”

At least he’s certain to be an early contender on The Monster Mile, where he won the pole for both races this year.

“We’re going to run hard and run up front,” Mayfield said. “That’s all we can do.”

He has been an underdog all year and didn’t make the field of top-10 drivers competing for the title until the last opportunity. He made it in by winning two weeks ago in Richmond, Va., his first victory of the season.

“We’ve got to come back fighting every week, and that’s what we’re going to do this week,” Mayfield said. “We’re going to be good here. This is one of our good tracks.”

He might have won in June on the high-banked concrete oval, but was caught up in a 19-car crash.

Newman, 136 points out after an engine failure in New Hampshire, swept last year at Dover and was strong here in June.

Truex bags Busch victory

Dover, Del. — Points leader Martin Truex Jr. bided his time, took the lead with 12 laps to go and drove to an easy victory in the NASCAR Busch series race Saturday at Dover International Speedway. The win in the Stacker 200 was the fifth of the year for Truex, tying him with rookie Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle for the most on the circuit. It also was the fifth in the career of Truex and increased his points lead over Busch to 152 after 27 of 34 races.

Barrichello takes pole

Shanghai, China — Rubens Barrichello claimed the pole position for the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday after Ferrari teammate and Formula One champion Michael Schumacher spun out seconds into his qualifying lap.