Dover, Del. ? Ryan Newman has a plan to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup title even though the mathematics make that seem unlikely.

“If we can finish in the top five in the last nine races, I can pretty much guarantee us a championship,” he said after winning Sunday at Dover International Speedway. “But we can’t finish 33rd, first and then 33rd.”

He certainly can’t, given the 107 points by which he trails leader Jeff Gordon with eight races remaining. Newman is playing catchup because engine failure relegated him to a 33rd-place finish a week earlier in New Hampshire.

“But this is a big step in the right direction,” Newman said of his victory Sunday in the MBNA America 400. “We’ll just do the best that we possibly can, and if we don’t deserve it then we won’t get it.”

Four-time series champion Gordon agrees with Newman’s assessment that consistency will win the title. He isn’t that concerned with wins.

“What more can you ask for than top-fives every weekend,” Gordon said. “That would do it.”

Gordon finished third behind Mark Martin and is one point ahead of Kurt Busch, who wound up fifth and lost the points lead when he was passed by Dale Jarrett with six laps to go.

Newman notched his second victory this season and 11th of his career, beating Martin by 8.149 seconds on the high-banked concrete oval. Newman averaged 119.084 mph in a race slowed five times by cautions covering 38 laps.