The roller load distribution, contact stress distribution and bearing deflection in the cylindrical roller bearing are determined by Hertz theory and multibody elastic contact analysis using sequential linear programing. The results obtained by two analyses are compared and show a good agreement between them except the contact stress distribution. The maximum sustainable load without yielding is calculated from the stress distribution of ideal line contact. The effects of several factors such as the number of rollers, roller diameter and preloading on the maximum contact stress are studied. And the optimum value of preloading is searched by Fibonacci search to minimize the maximum contact stress.