LONG POND, Pa. -- Fans lined Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway Sunday, shouting praise and encouragement for the winning team in the recently concluded Pocono 500.

One took a long pull from his beer can, leaned across the railing, and yelled, "I put money on you in Vegas, baby, and you came through!"

Press Pass: Stewart

Tony Stewart speaks on his first Cup win with Stewart-Haas Racing and his relationship with his teammate, Ryan Newman.

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There was too much mayhem unfolding all around for Tony Stewart to hear him. But as Stewart hoisted the winning trophy over his head, it was just the type of comment that would have brought a smile to his lips.

Then again, he already was grinning widely. How could he not be? Only moments earlier, he had become the first owner/driver to win a race in NASCAR's top touring series in more than a decade -- since Ricky Rudd did it in September of 1998 at Martinsville.

Stewart did it in his first season as owner/driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet that he took to Victory Lane for Stewart-Haas Racing. He did it in only his 14th race with the fledging team, just three weeks after winning the non-points Sprint Cup All-Star Race in Charlotte that copped his new organization a cool $1 million.

Had Stewart gone to Vegas to place a bet on himself prior to this season, it's unlikely even he would have wagered that he would have had all this success so quickly in his new venture.

Odds against

In fact, had anyone been looking to wager on Sunday' race in Vegas, the odds on Stewart would have fluctuated wildly from day to day over the weekend. On Friday, when steady rains washed out the only scheduled Sprint Cup practice and also qualifying, he was placed on the pole by virtue of being first in the point standings.

But after crashing during the first practice of the weekend Saturday morning, Stewart was forced to start Sunday in the rear of the 43-car field in a backup car. Throughout the weekend ordeal, crew chief Darian Grubb preached optimism and Stewart obviously was listening.

"This was a very interesting weekend all the way around," Grubb said. "To come up here and sit in the rain and get the pole because we earned it -- because the guys have been working really hard and we had the points lead -- that was big for the entire Stewart-Haas organization to get that.

"Then having to go to the backup car, it was great to see everybody just keep their heads about them, stay calm and stay cool. We made all the changes we needed to between the two cars, and I think we actually made the second car better."

They had some extra helping hands and minds loaned from their good friends at Hendrick Motorsports, which supplies the Stewart-Haas teams with chassis, engines and lots of technical information that they all share. But Sunday's victory was a byproduct of an organization that, while new, was obviously well prepared to deal with any adversity that might come their way at the tricky Pocono track.

"Nobody got upset. Nobody lost their heads when I crashed the primary car," Stewart said. "They just do their jobs and they're efficient at it.

"That's half the battle, just having a group of guys that have the same confidence that I have behind the wheel. They have that same confidence as crew members, and in the preparation at the shop before we come here [to the track]. It's not like they all of a sudden had to roll a backup car out and try to set it up from scratch. It was basically ready to go when it came off the trailer."

Special trust

Grubb knew the backup car was ready to go before the race. But even he was a little astounded as to how quickly Stewart guided it through race traffic once the green flag was dropped.

"I knew we were fast when we went from 43rd to 20th in about the first 22 laps," Grubb said.

In the end, Stewart had to win, ironically, by slowing down to conserve gas over the final laps. It went against his very nature, but he did what Grubb told him had to be done. Again, the confidence in each other and the trust level exhibited were those not usually associated with a new team.

Joe Custer, vice president at Stewart-Haas Racing, called the victory "very historic" and admitted he was "thrilled." But Stewart at first bristled on Sunday when he was asked where it ranked.

"Why does everybody say that after every race you win? They want to know where it ranks. We don't keep rankings," said Stewart, who earned his 34th career Cup victory. "We keep trophies. They are on a shelf and you scoot one over and slide the new one in there next to it. You love having the opportunity to do that, but it's not about rankings. It's about enjoying the moment."

Yet a few minutes later, when the question was phrased a little differently and Stewart was asked if he'll think Sunday's win was a special one some day "when he's in a rocking chair," his answer softened considerably.

"I'm not trying to downplay what happened [Sunday] because I am very proud of what's happened," he said. "But we are still in the middle of the season. ... The good thing is I hope I won't be in a rocking chair anytime soon -- but there is going to be that day when I look back on this moment.

"It's like I told [team co-owner] Gene Haas [after the All-Star win] at Charlotte: 'There's only one first and it doesn't matter how many races you win, there's only one first time that you go to Victory Lane with a new organization.' This was our first one with a point win. So this is the only first that we're going to have in this situation. The rest of them are just going to be a number and stats down the road. So it is special."

He is right about that. And about the fact that there will be more victories and memories and statistics of note for Stewart-Haas Racing down the road.

The fan with the beer can bet on it again the next time he heads to Vegas.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.