Stewart solves Las Vegas with NASCAR Kobalt Tools 400 win

Tony Stewart knew he should have won last year's race in Las Vegas, but a pit stop gone wrong kept him winless here.

On Sunday, winning and losing was in his control, and Stewart used a series of outstanding restarts to put 13 frustrating trips to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his rearview mirror.

Stewart's final restart advantage came with four laps remaining, and he sped away from Jimmie Johnson to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 400.

Now Stewart has only Darlington and Kentucky left on his list of racetracks where he hasn't claimed victory. "Smoke" has won a Nationwide Series race at Darlington, but not a Cup event. Kentucky was added to the Cup schedule last year, so Stewart has had only one shot at that race.

Stewart should have broken his Las Vegas hex last year, opening as much as a four-second lead. But an air hose got stuck in the fender, causing him to drag the hose out of his pit box to incur a stop-and-go penalty.

"I'm just glad to finally win one here," Stewart said. "We were so close last year and had a dominant car. I'm not sure we had a dominant car (Sunday), but we had an awful fast (one)."

He managed to drive to a runner-up finish in last year's race, but lost to Carl Edwards. Stewart, however, caught Edwards on the final day at Homestead to win his third Cup championship.

Even after winning the title, Stewart didn't waver on his decision to change crew chiefs, replacing Darian Grubb with Steve Addington. The move opened up Stewart for criticism, but perhaps this victory helps validate his decision.

"I really didn't realize how much I'd put on myself going to work for the championship team the very next year," Addington said. "It's been a lot of pressure. I think that even when Tony feels good about the car, I'm still questioning. He's just like, 'Relax, dude, it's going to be all right.' "

Addington made the critical decision to replace only two tires during a caution with a little more than 40 laps remaining. The No. 14 Chevrolet team knew track position was vital.

"That was when Matt (Kenseth) and Jimmie had taken four tires," Stewart said. "We knew if we could clear those guys, it would give us a little bit of a buffer and have some lapped cars that would keep them occupied. We didn't know we were going to have three or four restarts after that. It was key to get out front right away and try and build a gap."

Stewart came out of pit road in third, behind leader Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski. Then at the green restart flag, Stewart went low to make it three wide and passed both drivers.

Stewart briefly gave back the lead to Keselowski, then recaptured it for the final 34 laps. Not that there weren't some anxious moments. Stewart might have been sensational on restarts, but he dreaded them because he was concerned about handing back momentum.

He didn't need to worry.

"On the restarts, man, I've just never seen a car drive off like that," third-place finisher Greg Biffle said.

The final restart came with four laps left. Stewart beat Johnson's No. 48 Chevy, and the race essentially was over.

"I felt really good," Johnson said of his restart. "(Stewart) was still running away from me."

Now Stewart has his much sought-after victory in Las Vegas, having come up short 13 times, none more painful than last year.

"It's hard when you go to a track one time a year and you lose it like we did last year," Stewart said. "We had to wait 365 days to come back and have a shot at it again. I wouldn't have probably been in such a bad mood on the airplane last year if I would have known we would be sitting here like this."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.