Stewart wins after NASCAR disallows Smith's pass (cont'd)

Stewart said further that he had no qualms about blocking Smith.

"I've lost Daytona 500s, and I've lost races here because somebody blocked," Stewart said. "The nice thing is that I was on the right end of it this time. I have no regrets."

Smith saw it differently.

"They always tell us in the drivers' meeting, if you get forced to the inside, you can go for it, especially on the last lap," Smith said. "I saw the replay when I was pulling in here [to pit road], and I felt like we won that race. I could have caused a big pileup, and you don't want to do that, either.

"The moved worked out just how I wanted it to, so I don't know what else I could have done different."

Several competitors, including Johnson, said they had heard that passes below the yellow line would be allowed within sight of the checkered flag. That notion originally stemmed from a ruling that allowed Johnny Benson to improve from third to second at the finish of the February 2007 Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona.

NASCAR, however, had the final say, and the sanctioning body's position was clear-cut, though it did appear to contradict statements made by NASCAR spokespersons in the aftermath of the Daytona Truck race.

"You cannot improve your position any time you go below the yellow line," NASCAR vice president of corporate communications Jim Hunter said. "In our judgment, he [Smith] improved his position, and the penalty for that is a pass-through, so he was moved back to the tail end of the longest line, or 18th position.

"At the drivers' meeting, we clearly state that you cannot improve your position by going below the yellow line. We do not feel he was forced below the yellow line. We respect Regan's view, but we made the call, we think it's the right call and the finish is final."

Smith's penalty elevated Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate Paul Menard to the second position, a career-best for the driver who will leave DEI at the end of the season to join Yates Racing. David Ragan ran third, tying a career best, and Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The race had a NASCAR-record 31 lead changes, several tire failures and lived up to its reputation as the "wild card" of the 10 Chase events. Because of its white-knuckle racing conditions, Talladega is the one Chase race every driver fears will ruin his title hopes.

The big Chase winner was points leader Jimmie Johnson, who dodged a succession of wrecks that unfolded in front of him and came home ninth in a car that wasn't as competitive as he would have liked.

With his closest pursuers wiped out in a Lap 174 wreck triggered by Carl Edwards that aslo clobbered the cars of Greg Biffle and four other drivers competing in the Chase (watch video), Johnson leaves Talladega with a 72-point lead over second-place Edwards and a 77-point advantage over third-place Biffle.

"He made a mistake and tore up most of the field," said Kevin Harvick, who also got caught up in the wreck. "It's Talladega, you have a 50-50 opportunity to come here and miss the wreck and [Sunday] we got in it."

Notes: Denny Hamlin sustained an ankle injury during hard contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 on Lap 99 (watch video). He was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. ... The race produced 28 different leaders, a NASCAR record for all tracks, not just Talladega.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.