DOVER, Del. -- Jimmie Johnson's four tires scored a resounding victory over Tony Stewart's pair of Goodyears over the last 27 laps Sunday at Dover International Speedway, but Stewart's second place behind Johnson in the Autism Speaks 400 gave him the Sprint Cup points lead.

Stewart couldn't stop smiling about the fact he'd finished so well in his own No. 14 Chevrolet that he said deserved so much less, or that he'd taken the point lead about eight races sooner in the season than he'd ever done it before.

"Obviously that stat there is pretty cool, to be leading the point standings this early into the new venture," Stewart said. "But really proud of our guys to give us equipment that puts us in this position. Just pretty excited about the end of the day, there. It was fun racing with Jimmie like that."

And the fact that he became the first owner/driver to lead the Cup standings -- unofficially by 46 over erstwhile leader Jeff Gordon -- since champion Alan Kulwicki ended the 1992 season on top made it the best antidote of all for getting beat.

"It's been a dream season for us up to this point, and you hope that you don't wake up tomorrow and all of a sudden realize that we're just getting ready to go to Daytona or something and it's all been a dream," Stewart said. "It means something [to be the first owner/driver since Kulwicki to lead]. Everybody respected Alan because he was an owner/driver and what he was able to accomplish.

"I was still sprint car and midget racing at that point and wasn't able to keep up because we were racing the same days Cup was racing. You go through a time and you're able to go back and look at how the history of the sport has evolved and what milestones and moments shaped the sport to what it is, so it's a pretty cool moment to have your organization mentioned with his organization."

For Stewart-Haas director of competition Bobby Hutchens, it has a direct impact since Hutchens was an integral member of Richard Childress Racing's No. 3 Chevrolet team that raced Kulwicki for that championship, sandwiching it with titles in 1991 and 1993 by Dale Earnhardt.

"That's pretty prestigious," Hutchens said. "We raced with the 3 car, against Alan back in those days and Alan was an innovator and a thinker and a pretty smart individual -- and of course he won the championship because of all that.

"He did things a lot different than a lot of us had done it in the garage area and there are things in the garage today that Alan probably brought here, so I think it's pretty cool that Tony was able to do that because he's been able to do a pretty good job at being able to distinguish between the driver and the owner role.

"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