MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Tony Stewart won a paint-trading duel with Jimmie Johnson and overcame Hendrick Motorsports' long domination at Martinsville Speedway.

Stewart and Johnson dueled nose-to-bumper and side-by-side for four laps Sunday, bringing the 65,000 fans to their feet. After being rebuffed three times, Stewart finally got around Johnson with 27 laps to go and held on to win the DirectTV 500.

"I knew we were a little quicker than him. There was no way he was going to give it away, so we were going to have to take it away. We didn't turn him around. We didn't spin him out. We just got the position that we were after,'' Stewart said.

The victory was the 25th for the defending and two-time series champion, and second at Martinsville, where he led 530 of 1,000 laps last year but came away without either victory. He also once said the track should be converted to a bass fishing pond.

But he celebrated in what is becoming his trademark, climbing the fence near the flagstand and enjoying the moment as his fans joined in from the other side.   More