Stewart runs second but comes out first in points (cont'd)

"They both recognized the value of their people. Alan surrounded himself with people he was comfortable with and had the same goals, and Tony's done the same thing."

Dover's end game was set up when the day's 10th caution flew at Lap 371. Stewart had tried two tires once before but had been mired in hard-racing traffic and dirty air all day, so he figured he had little choice.

"It was the perfect call," Stewart said. "We decided to take a gamble -- we were going to stay out, and then Darian [Grubb, crew chief] called us at the last minute to do two [tires]. We weren't that fast a car, but it got us the track position we needed."

When the race restarted, Stewart was .816 seconds behind Greg Biffle on the first green-flag lap. Ten laps later he'd cut it to .455 seconds, while Johnson, who restarted eighth with four new tires, had closed to 2.043 seconds behind Biffle.

Eight laps later, Stewart took the lead from Biffle when his loose No. 16 Ford wobbled coming off Turn 2. At Lap 392, Stewart was .288 seconds ahead of Johnson, who passed Biffle on the same lap. Six laps later, Johnson made the winning pass, and went on to win by .861 seconds.

"That's all I can do -- I'm used up," Stewart said. "That's everything I had and we didn't leave anything on the table. We just got outrun there at the end. He was flying, man. I don't know if we could have got by the No. 16 any sooner we could have held him off or not but it was sure fun trying.

"I hope the fans enjoyed it the most. I mean, you had three guys racing for the lead inside 10 laps to go. I don't know how it gets much more exciting than that, but if I had to pick between the three of us on the race track, I'd have to say Jimmie [enjoyed it most, because] when you're the fastest car and you're coming as fast as he was, it was just a matter of getting the opening that he needed."

Stewart could only shake his head with a smile, when asked about the outcome.

"Definitely the fastest car [won]," he said. "They've been the fastest car all day, so there's no shame in running second to a guy that led the most laps all day.

"We had an opportunity. We got to the lead there and got by Biffle and just couldn't hold off Jimmie. He was like a freight train coming. I mean, I was surprised I could hold him off as long as I did, but I was pretty happy that we were able to do it for that long -- so I'm pretty excited about it."

But not as much as he is about what the "new venture" as he called it, his partnership with former Haas CNC Racing owner Gene Haas that formed Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of last season, has achieved.

After 13 races, Stewart has a league-leading nine top-10 finishes and six top-fives, which ties him with second- and third-place points men Gordon and Johnson.

The irony in the day's finish, and the current standings, is that Stewart-Haas uses Hendrick Motorsports chassis and engines. Gordon and Johnson drive for Hendrick and Ryan Newman, who jumped to fifth in the standings Sunday after scoring his fifth consecutive top-10 finish, is Stewart's teammate.

Johnson said Stewart's and Newman's claim that they often feel like Hendrick "teammates" had no bearing on the race's end -- saying he'd have chased Gordon, Mark Martin or Dale Earnhardt Jr. just as hard -- but it did when he looked at the standings.

"It doesn't matter who it is you're chasing, teammate or not -- you race people how they race you," Johnson said. "Just the nature of being a teammate, you don't run each other over and you don't take cheap shots, so that's how I race my teammates, and my teammates race me the same way. And Tony, even before he was a teammate raced me the same way. He knows the balance against being a [tough guy] and being not -- of racing respectful and not.

"Like last weekend with [David] Reutimann. He wasn't happy about [being raced too hard at the 'wrong time']. He tries to police the garage area and teach the flow of it. I enjoy racing with him. I've made him mad and he's made me mad, but through it all we've always been able to have an understanding and [Sunday], that was just hard racing."

Johnson was told there were currently four "Hendrick" cars in the top-five in the standings, two from Hendrick Motorsports and two from Stewart-Haas.

"Wow -- I hadn't seen the points," Johnson said. "I think where my pride comes from, is as a friend of Tony's, but on the competitive side I'm like, 'Damn it, now we've got to race against them.'"

• Press Pass: Stewart address the media after the race