NSCS - Pocono 500

Tony Stewart's dream season! He sits on top of the point standings and is winning races in his first year as an owner/driver.

Stewart won the Pocono 500 for his first official points-paying race win as an owner/driver. Defeat was not in his vocabulary. He started in the back of the field in a back-up car after wrecking his primary in a practice accident. With an average fuel window of 33-39 laps, Stewart chose not to pit for gas during a late race caution. Instead, he pulled out on the restart to lead the final 36 laps. The gamble paid off.

"It's just a little different when you're the one that's got to be accountable," Stewart said.

John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

Stewart is the first owner/driver to win a cup race since Ricky Rudd on September 27, 1998 @ Martinsville.

"I think it's just preparation and having a group of guys that have the confidence that no matter what the challenge is, they are not going to panic. They are not going to freak out. They just know that you are going to have situations like that," Stewart said. "Nobody got upset. Nobody lost their heads yesterday when I crashed the primary car, and you know, they just do their job and they are efficient at it. It that's half the battle is 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 the preparation at the shop before we come here, 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."

It was a slight flashback to last week's event @ Dover. In the closing laps, it came down to Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and a Roush driver, in this case it was Carl Edwards. This time around, Stewart was able to distance himself seconds ahead of Edwards and Johnson. With 2 laps to go, the #48 and #99 were in a heated battle for 2nd position forgetting their need to also conserve fuel. Johnson ran out of gas coming out of turn 2 on the last lap. He finished 7th.

Carl Edwards led the race-high 103 laps and was able to hang on for a runner-up finish. David Reutimann, Jeff Gordon and Stewart's driver, Ryan Newman round out the top 5.

There were 5 cautions for 20 laps and 22 lead changes among 12 drivers:

T. Stewart 0; J. Gordon 1-5; J. Johnson 6-13; R. Newman 14; J. Johnson 15-37; C. Edwards 38-44; M. Martin 45; Kurt Busch 46-47; C. Edwards 48-76; T. Stewart 77-78; C. Edwards 79-100; G. Biffle 101-104; M. Kenseth 105; C. Edwards 106-117; M. Kenseth 118-120; C. Edwards 121-136; M. Kenseth 137-138; J. McMurray 139; E. Sadler 140-141; C. Mears 142; C. Edwards 143-159; J. Gordon 160-163; T. Stewart 164-200.

For the (unofficial) results, click here.