Stewart ends winless drought

HAMPTON, Ga. --- Tony Stewart was down to one last trick in the closing laps of Sunday night's Emory Health Care 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Apparently he saved his best for last.

• Photos

Tom Ryder/Associated Press

Tony Stewart walks to his car for qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen auto race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010.

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After fading badly from the front on three consecutive restarts, he radioed to his team he had one more idea to keep the rear tires from spinning on his No. 14 Chevrolet. After nothing else worked for the first 450 miles, his change in strategy worked to perfection twice in the final 30 laps for his first victory of the season.

Stewart struggled so badly during restarts following caution periods, he apologized to his team for losing so much ground. Then he remembered he had "one old trick left in the bag" learned during the past 25 years while driving open-wheeled and stock cars.

"I didn't hit a restart all night until the end," he said. "I couldn't figure it out. I tried not to watch Carl (Edwards) and pay attention to my own pace. I'm glad we got it figured out."

In the process, Stewart not only broke a 31-race winless streak dating back to last year. He also gained 10 bonus points for the Chase for the Championship.

He finished 100 yards ahead of Edwards.

"That was fun," Edwards said. "Tony had such a fast car at the end. We're back. We're doing it. We locked ourselves in the Chase. We had something that could win the race tonight. It was a blast."

Stewart was one of eight drivers who clinched his spot in the Chase for the Championship that starts in two weeks. Greg Biffle is 11th in the standings and Clint Bowyer has the final transfer spot in 12th, 117 points ahead of 13th-place Ryan Newman.

Denny Hamlin started on the pole and led 74 of the first 143 laps. But his Toyota erupted in white smoke as he crossed the finish line, sending him into a lazy spin at the end of pit road.

The final race of the regular season is Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.