"That was a whale of a finish, no doubt about that," Wallace said. "It was Team Penske the last half. Jeremy's car was great and my car felt really good and he had a little problem at the end and I was able to take advantage."

Battling for second, Wallace and Burton benefited from a flat tire on the Ford Taurus of Jeremy Mayfield, who was trying to complete the sweep at Pocono Raceway this year. But the tire gave out off turn 1 and Mayfield hobbled home in 10th place.

Inside of Burton's Ford, Wallace held him off to win by 0.126 seconds for his fourth triumph at Pocono.

"The outside worked real well for me," Burton said. "I got along him (Rusty) several times. He did such a good job of pinching me off that I just could never clear him. He just did a great job of driving, but kudos to my team."

At last month's Pocono 500, Mayfield traded paint with Dale Earnhardt on the final lap before taking the checkered flag. This time, he was on the short end of the late duel.

"I didn't see anything, but you know how it is," Mayfield said. "I guess I ran over something. I couldn't believe something like that happened, but the last time I was here we had a spectacular finish on the last lap too, so I guess the track owed me one.

"The 12 car (Mayfield's) was the best car out there. I don't think anybody disputes that. We'll take it from there and go on to Indy (for the Brickyard 400)."

Also driving a Ford, Wallace notched his 51st Winston Cup win, tying Jeff Gordon for eighth place on the all-time list. Both drivers have won twice this year.

"It felt good though to finally get the 51st victory and get two this year," Wallace said. "Now maybe people will quit asking me, `Hey Rusty, when are you gonna get your next victory?'"

Gordon, the 1995 winner, was third in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo for his eighth top-five finish at this track. Defending Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett and rookie Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five in Fords.

Defending race champion and points leader Bobby Labonte finished sixth, failing to defend both of his titles at Pocono. In June, he finished 13th in a race won by Mayfield, who led 31 laps today.

Labonte remained 53 points ahead of Jarrett, who moved ahead of Earnhardt into second. Burton jumped from seventh to fourth, 201 points off the pace. Labonte has been the points leader for 10 straight races and 16 of the last 17.

Mike Skinner was seventh, followed by Rick Mast and Jimmy Spencer. Mast posted his best result in 2000.

After a week off, the series moves to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 on August 5. Jarrett is the defending champion.