Kenseth was able to handle the pressure of being in front

Matt Kenseth won his first Winston Cup Championship on Sunday after finishing fourth at North Carolina Speedway.

The 31-year-old, who had led the series since the fourth race of the season said: "I got all this stuff bottled up inside because I didn't want to get too excited the last few months.

"I don't know what I'm going to do now - it's an awesome feeling."

Bill Elliott won the Pop Secret Popcorn 400 - his first win of the season and the 44th of his career.

With one race remaining, Kenseth's performance handed car owner Jack Roush his first Cup title.

Kenseth came into Sunday's race knowing he needed only to finish seventh or better to end the suspense.

The 31-year-old driver from Cambridge, Wisconsin, took the title in his fourth season in Nascar's top stock car series.

Although he has won just one race, he has 11 top-five finishes and 26 top 10s in 35 races.

He is 226 points ahead of runner-up Jimmie Johnson .

Race winner Elliott, 48, who has been the subject of retirement rumours, had to start at the end of the field after his team changed an engine on Friday.

But he came on strong and drove his Evernham Motorsports Dodge across the finish line 1.23-seconds ahead of Johnson's Chevrolet.

Results from the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400:

1. Bill Elliott, Dodge
2. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
3. Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge
4. Matt Kenseth, Ford
5. Ryan Newman, Dodge