DOVER, Del. -- Despite a pit road speeding penalty that sent the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet to the back of the field for a restart on lap 159, Jimmie Johnson rallied to finish seventh in Sunday's Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Though he finished a lap down to race winner Kyle Busch, who picked up his fourth victory in 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup races this season, Johnson gained two positions to seventh in the series points standings halfway to the cutoff for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Roush Fenway racing teammates Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth finished 2-3-4, the first time three Roush drivers have posted top-five finishes in the same race since July 2006 at New Hampshire. Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon ran fifth, followed by Martin Truex Jr., the last driver on the lead lap of a race in which the last 153 laps were run under the green flag.

"You are on stickers (new tires)," crew chief Chad Knaus told Johnson during the pace laps before the race. "Let's get out and have some fun today."

"Let's have a good, solid day," the driver agreed. "Everything else will take care of itself."

"OK, coming to green here," added spotter Stevie Reeves. "Have some fun today. Have a good one."

Johnson started fourth and quickly worked his way up to second behind polesitter Greg Biffle.

"Nice and easy, bud," Knaus said on lap 6. "Look at your temps when you can."

Two laps later, Reeves pointed out that several drivers already had abandoned the bottom of the one-mile concrete racetrack. "Some guys are running the second lane already," he told Johnson.

"Free off," Johnson radioed to Knaus on lap 10, indicating the Lowe's Chevy was loose on corner exit.

"Ten-four, when you get a second, just get that mic a little closer to your mouth, please," answered Knaus, who was having difficulty hearing his driver's transmission.

Lap 17 brought the only major crash at the Monster Mile, as contact between Elliott Sadler and David Gilliland triggered a melee in turn 2 that damaged 11 cars, including those of Chase contenders Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne.

"There's debris all over the place," Johnson said as he drove past the carnage.

"We've got to be smart here," Knaus radioed under caution on lap 18. "A lot of the top competitors have been damaged."

"It's a disaster back here," Johnson rejoined.

"They're going to stop you on the frontstretch," Reeves said. His words were followed by a red flag period that lasted 16 minutes, 13 seconds as track crews cleaned up the mess.

"When you come to the pits, keep a close eye on the No. 9 (Kahne) pits," Knaus said during the stoppage. "There's a lot of debris, and the last thing we need is to run over a screw or something."

NASCAR had planned to call a competition caution on lap 30 to allow the teams to check tire wear, but the early yellow eliminated that notion.

"When they open pit road, they said this will be the competition (caution)," Reeves said after the race resumed under yellow on lap 22.

"There may be some guys that take two tires, but we're not going to be those guys," Knaus said of the coming pit stop.

"We knew we were going to lose a few (spots)," Knaus added after the stop on lap 23, on which the Lowe's Chevrolet had fallen to eighth. "Everybody ahead of you has two tires. We're going to kick some ass."

"It's a little more comfortable until that loose (off the corner), but that loose is still there," Johnson said after the restart on lap 27, describing the handling of the Lowe's Chevy.

"Ten-four, we'll drop the panhard bar on the next pit stop," Knaus replied.

"The 83 car (Brian Vickers), about 10 (car lengths) back, is running the middle groove," Reeves told Johnson on lap 41. "He's about the only one that's picked up there."

Under the second caution of the race, on lap 68, Johnson told Knaus, "Now that the track's rubbering up a little bit, it's starting to feel a little snug, bouncing around a little bit."

"We'll drop the panhard bar three rounds," Knaus replied.

But Johnson said he was a little uneasy about such a major adjustment and asked Knaus about pulling a spring rubber and taking some wedge out to go with dropping the panhard bar.

"I really don't want to take that rubber out until we get closer to the front," Knaus said. "For now, we've just got to hold on and try to maintain track position. We're already back to ninth, so don't let anybody else pass you."

Three laps after a restart on lap 73, Joe Nemechek scraped the frontstretch wall to bring out the third caution of the race.

"That was pretty damn good!" Johnson said of his handling, though he hadn't had long to enjoy it.

"It'll be a quickie yellow if you need it," Reeves said as the cars circled under caution.

"I passed somebody," said Johnson, who had gotten by Truex for the eighth position. That comment highlighted the difficulty of passing cars of comparable speed in NASCAR's aero-dependent new race car.

"Good," was Knaus' terse reply.

"It's more comfortable to drive now," Johnson said under green on lap 91. "A little lazy in the center and just a little free off. I wish it was faster."

"If you can get ahead of that 2 car (Kurt Busch), it'll be real important for the next pit stop, for track position," Knaus told his driver a lap later.

Within seven laps, Johnson had passed Busch for the sixth position, but Knaus wasn't satisfied.

"Get that 26 (Jamie McMurray)," he said. "He's running sixth. Right now, we're about seven seconds behind the leader. The 24 (Jeff Gordon) is catching you about a tenth and a half, two tenths a lap right now."

On lap 123, Johnson passed McMurray for fifth/

"We'll be pitting in about 25 (laps), bud," Knaus told his driver on lap 126.

"The 'free-off' has pretty much gone away, unless I'm really aggressive on the throttle," Johnson replied.

"We'll just back a little bit of left-side air pressure out of it," Knaus said. "We need a really good pit stop under green."

"Twenty-six flat," Knaus said, reading off the lap time on lap 138. "Ten seconds behind the leader now."

After staying out to lead a lap and earn five bonus points when the cars ahead of him made green-flag stops, Johnson brought the Lowe's Chevy to the pits on lap 152.

But NASCAR's computer flagged Johnson for speeding while exiting pit road, and after returning to the pits under caution (after A.J. Allmendinger stalled in turn 1 on lap 153), Johnson restarted 16th -- but at the end of the field -- on lap 159.

"All right, bud, we were too fast exiting pit road, so we're going to have to go to the tail end of the longest line," Knaus told Johnson before the restart.

"What?" the astonished driver exclaimed.

"I'm just telling you what they said," Knaus replied. "I'm not going to argue with them."

"The 00 (Michael McDowell) got the same penalty," Reeves said, but it was small consolation.

Through a green-flag run that lasted 84 laps, Johnson slowly gained positions.

"What you got there, Jimmie?" Knaus asked on lap 198.

"Loose off," Johnson replied.

"Try that high line," Knaus suggested. "You said it was better yesterday (in practice) when you were loose off. Don't bomb it into the corner. Just drive it off."

"We've got the 22 (Dave Blaney), the 28 (Travis Kvapil) and the 12 (Ryan Newman) right there in front of us," Knaus said on lap 212. "You can get those guys."

But it was slow going in race traffic, and Carl Edwards, the race leader at the time, was barely more than a straightaway behind.

"No pressure behind you," Reeves said on lap 216

"Yes, there is -- the freaking leader!" Knaus reminded him.

"Pit you in about 10, but you've got to be on your toes, guys," Knaus said on lap 230. "You've got to be ready."

After the stop on lap 236, four laps earlier than planned, Knaus told his driver, "The leader's a straightaway back. Haul ass, man. Haul ass."

"It's pretty out of control here," Johnson said on lap 243, running 10th after the pit stops had cycled through.

"All I did was drop the panhard bar," Knaus replied.

"I'm just telling you what it's doing," Johnson rejoined.

"Can you just put a little front brake in it for your entry?" Knaus asked.

"It's one and a half -- I'll go two," Johnson said, agreeing to make the adjustment.

NASCAR called the final caution of the race on lap 243 for debris in turn 2, and Johnson restarted ninth on lap 248.

"You've got 155 laps to go, and you're sitting ninth," Knaus said before the restart. "They're on old tires, you're on new tires. Be aggressive at the start and try to get a couple of them."

Johnson did exactly that, powering the Lowe's Chevy past Blaney and Jeff Burton on lap 253 to grab sixth position.

"The next position is the 24," Knaus said. "All the ones ahead of you are lappers."

"That was good work, man," Knaus said on lap 259 after Johnson had passed the large group of lapped cars. "About 11 laps into the run. Nice and easy. The next position is the 24. We're five seconds behind him. We're 10 seconds behind the leader."

"Pretty loose all the way through," Johnson replied, talking about the handling of his car.

On lap 294 he added, "The longer I run, the center does start to get snug, but the exit never comes to me."

"That's what all the guys are saying," Knaus answered. "Keep digging."

"Lap times any better?" Johnson asked on lap 316.

"Same," Knaus replied.

Johnson brought the Lowe's Chevy to the pits for the final time on lap 319 and was still running sixth after all the green-flag stops had been completed. He held that position until Truex passed him for the spot on lap 367. On that same circuit, Kyle Busch put the Lowe's Chevy a lap down.

"There's engine oil out there," Johnson radioed on lap 381, hoping for a caution that would restore him to the lead lap. "Someone's blowing up."

Despite smoke from Paul Menard's Chevrolet, however, the caution never came, and Johnson held seventh until the finish.

"Checkered flag," Reeves said as Busch crossed the finish line. "Good job."

"Thank you, guys," Johnson added, with next Sunday's race at Pocono already on the horizon.