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BRISTOL, Tenn. — They couldn't match Kyle Busch on Sunday at Bristol, but that's fine. For two teams, finishing in the top 10 proved just as important.

Mark Martin and Ryan Newman entered Sunday's race mired deep in the points standings after various maladies the first four weeks. Sunday, they both enjoyed trouble-free days and each posted their best finish of the season. Martin placed sixth with Newman seventh. Martin climbed three spots to 31st in the points and Newman improved four positions to 27th.

"It is just great for this team to get some forward momentum," said Martin, who started on the pole for the second consecutive race. "I had fun."

Newman called his performance "a great effort by the guys on pit road and (crew chief) Tony Gibson."

Tony Stewart, who finished 17th and also owns Newman's car, was glad to see Newman avoid some of the bad luck that has plagued him so far.

"They've been working hard," Stewart said. "It's hard to not let your morale get beat up having the kind of bad luck they've had. It was good to see them get a good run like they deserved."

ALL FOR ONE? Hendrick Motorsports placed three of its four cars in the top six with Jimmie Johnson third, Jeff Gordon fourth and Mark Martin sixth. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is off to a slow start, finished 14th.

"We worked real hard," said Earnhardt, who started at the rear of the 43-car field after his team made a transmission change before the race. "We had great pit stops. We just had terrible track position. I've got everything we need and we've just got to work really hard trying to understand the cars and trying to make them work."

Earnhardt climbed five spots to 19th in the points.

Gordon continues to lead the points, holding a 76-point advantage on Kurt Busch heading into this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway.

"Oh my gosh, what a battle it was," Gordon said of his race. "We just needed to go in a different direction sooner (in adjustments). We got off and finally got it back. Top five, I'll take that."

STRONG RUN: Marcos Ambrose, whose background is in road racing, finished 10th and ran at the front most of the day.

"I'm really keen to try to break that mentality thing of a road racing guy," said Ambrose, who is from Tasmania. "I know I'm good on road courses, but I want to be good at every single track we go to, and today was a big step to really validate why I'm here in a full-time Cup ride."

STRONG EFFORT: Kasey Kahne finished a season-best fifth, showing signs that his team could be strong all season.

"We've made gains the last two weeks," he said. "The first three races, I felt like we were on the edge and not sure really what way we were going."

PIT STOPS: Elliott Sadler finished 20th with team executive Robbie Loomis serving as the crew chief. Sadler's crew chief, Kevin Buskirk, was sick and missed the race. &ellipses; Travis Kvapil finished 18th in what is expected to be his last race with Yates Racing. The organization is expected to shut that team down because it doesn't have a sponsor and is outside the top 35 in car owner points.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com