RICHMOND, Va. -- They talked a big game in the preseason, and many people looked at them with eyebrows raised. Chase berths and race wins, with an organization that just struggled to be competitive last year? Yet Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, the stunningly transformed Stewart-Haas Racing team took another large step toward making that a reality.

“

I told the guys if we keep doing this, we'll get what we want, and obviously we want to be in Victory Lane.

”

RYAN NEWMAN

Tony Stewart used fresh tires to storm to a second-place finish, and teammate Ryan Newman rebounded from early contact with Mark Martin to place fourth on the .75-mile short track. It marked the first time since becoming teammates that both drivers had placed in the top five in the same event. More importantly, with 15 Sprint Cup races remaining until NASCAR's premier series returns to Richmond to determine this year's championship field, both drivers are now inside the top 12 in points. This from an organization that fought just to make races before Stewart took over and strengthened the team's technical bonds with juggernaut Hendrick Motorsports.

"It's been impressive to watch the change, the mentality that Tony has brought in there about not being there just to be there, but to be there to win," said Jeff Burton, who finished third Saturday night. "I'm not sure I remember a team changing possession, you know what I mean, a new owner stepping in, and the turnaround being what it's been. He's making other people want to go and own their own cars. That's probably not a good thing. But it's been real impressive to watch."

So has the way Stewart and Newman have climbed up the point standings. Stewart didn't even have owner points at the beginning of the season, using his past champion's provisional as a safety net in case he failed to qualify on speed. It hardly proved an issue, as the newly minted team owner has been a fixture in the top 10. Newman endured a horrible start, failing to finish better than 20th the first four weeks of the year, but since then has climbed 22 positions in the points. Leaving Richmond, Stewart sits third and Newman 10th, the duo continuing to defy even best-case predictions.

The alliance with Hendrick, which supplies Stewart-Haas with chassis and engines, has certainly helped. But the team also received help from Hendrick last year, when the operation known as Haas-CNC Racing tried seven different drivers and didn't climb higher in points than 31st. In a bold bid to raise its competitive profile, the team handed half ownership in the organization to Stewart, who hired an array of top-notch employees and brought aboard major sponsors the team never would have attracted in its previous incarnation. The results are on display on the race track.

Race Video

• Press Pass: Tony Stewart
• Post-Race: Stewart, Newman

"For us as an organization, that momentum, I can't wait to get to the shop Monday and see the smiles on the guys' faces. That's the payoff for me. That's the stuff that will carry us into Darlington next week and carry us into the All Star Race the week after that. It means a lot," said Stewart, who has now finished fourth or better in four of his last five starts.

"I told somebody, I would rather have five second-place finishes in a row than I would have a win, a 32nd, an 18th, a 43rd and a seventh. You know, that consistency and that momentum of being up front every week and knowing that you have an opportunity to run for the win each night, that momentum carries you into that week-after-week stretch. That's what you need going into the Chase. You need to have that momentum. You need to have that confidence that goes with the momentum to feel like every day when you go out there, you've got a shot to win the race."

They certainly did Saturday, although Stewart's charge came too late to challenge winner Kyle Busch. Newman, who suffered a setback when he turned Martin on a jumbled restart, led 45 laps and vaulted from 13th to fourth over the final 80 circuits. Newman finished third a week earlier at Talladega, and now heads to Darlington Raceway with consecutive top-fives for the first time since November of 2007.

"I told the guys if we keep doing this, we'll get what we want, and obviously we want to be in Victory Lane," said Newman, who hasn't won since last year's Daytona 500. "We showed that we could lead, and we had a car that could race with Kyle, no doubt. We persevered and made it home with a strong finish. A great effort for Tony Stewart and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. We got two cars in the top five which was a first for us, and hopefully it's a first of many. It's been a long time for me with two straight top-fives."

Leaving Richmond, it seemed a long time since Newman was foundering near the back of the field. And it seemed a long time since the organization with the Haas name in it was working just to make races rather than win them.

"It is just coming together," Stewart said, "one piece at a time."