After raindrops slowed the race on Lap 124, Tony Stewart, the race leader, faked a move toward pit road but stayed on the track and matched the pace car's speed of 65 mph, a far cry from the lightning-fast laps he ran under the green flag.

The victory was Tony Stewart's first at the 1.5-mile track, leaving only Darlington and Kentucky as active Cup tracks at which he hasn't won. The win was Stewart's 45th, 15th all-time, in 467 Cup starts.

Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth claimed the third and fourth starting spots for Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500. They'll line up behind pole-sitter Carl Edwards and Biffle, who swept the front row for Roush Fenway in last Sunday's time trials at the 2.5-mile track.

A couple of important things to remember about long shots is that first, in order to win, they must have very good aim, and second, they generally have to deal with the issue of low expectations. At times, it seemed that NASCAR fans, who have enjoyed watching Stewart excel for years, had more faith in him than he had in himself. But he has acquired his reputation for toughness legitimately, and when the going required it, he came through.

Tony Stewart’s quest for a third title was derailed early when contact with debris—of origin unknown—punched a hole in the grille of his No. 14 Chevrolet the size of a small saucer. Stewart fell to 40th in the running order, while his crew made repairs under caution on Lap 17.

With his fourth victory in the Chase and the 43rd of his career, Tony Stewart put a dent in runner-up Carl Edwards’ series lead, scoring maximum points (48) to trim Edwards’ advantage from eight to three points with two races left in the season.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship is far from over as Tony Stewart win on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway closed the gap between himself and points leader Carl Edwards to a mere eight markers with three races left in the season.

The Smoke Show was at his best when it counted just nipping Clint Bowyer at the line for his fourth straight NASCAR Nationwide Series victory at Daytona.

Stewart, behind the wheel of a Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet, made it five wins in the last six Nationwide Series Daytona 300 events.