Tony Stewart has won three of the last four races in the Nextel Cup Series. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Stewart working in Indy to continue winning ways

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Tony Stewart is not taking anything for granted.

Despite winning three of the last four NASCAR races, he made sure to bring his cars to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Tuesday to test for next month's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Stewart at Indy in 2004 Credit: NASCAR

Victories, he said, are rare, no matter how well the last race went.

"If it were that easy, we wouldn't have even come to testing," Stewart said. "We would have just said 'We're where we need to be' and took a couple days off. That's why we're here sweating our guts out today trying to figure out how to go fast."

That hasn't been a problem for Stewart's team lately.

The star of the Joe Gibbs Racing team who grew up a little more than an hour from the Speedway in Columbus, Ind., is in third place in the Nextel Cup point standings heading into Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.

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"The last five weeks have been phenomenal for us," Stewart said. "I keep thinking I'm in a dream and I'm going to wake up and have it not happen. The good thing is that it's happening, and it's happening at the right time of the season for us. The timing couldn't be better."

Stewart said there's no fancy secret to his success.

"We've had some really good tests recently, and we've found some things that have been able to work at the tracks," he said.

Stewart said he liked the Speedway's surface, which was repaved last fall for the first time since 1995.

"There's hardly a bump on the track," he said. "It makes it fun for the drivers, and as teams, it makes it easier.

Stewart hopes for better luck this year at the Brickyard. He finished fifth last year and has 19 career Nextel Cup wins, but none at Indianapolis, where he also has raced in the Indy 500 five times.