updated 10:17 p.m. ET Oct. 29, 2006

HAMPTON, Ga. - Don’t bother asking Tony Stewart about what might have been.

The two-time NASCAR champion insists there’s no frustration in winning races that make no difference in the standings — at least not to the defending Nextel Cup champion.

Stewart, bitterly disappointed after failing to qualify for NASCAR’s 2006 playoffs by a mere 16 points, has won two of the first seven events in the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup championship. His win in Sunday’s Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway again stole the spotlight from the title contenders.

“If we were in the Chase, we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did at Kansas City,” Stewart said, referring to his Oct. 1 win. “We wouldn’t have been able to take the chance of running out of gas.”

Last year, Stewart won his second points championship without winning any of the 10 Chase events.

“There’s a lot of pressure on those guys in the Chase. Sometimes, it gets you off your game a little bit and, sometimes, you just have to be more conservative than you’d want to be.”

At this point, Stewart, who also wrapped up his first IROC championship here Saturday, is 11th in the points and racing only for pride and wins. This latest victory, his fourth of the season, clearly made him proud as he held off title contender Jimmie Johnson in the waning laps.

Stewart led a race-high 145 of the 325 laps on the 1.5-mile oval Sunday and, afterward, literally grabbed the checkered flag after a somewhat perilous climb up the flagstand in celebration.

“It’s better than last year,” said Stewart after jumping out of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet. “We were in it last year and couldn’t win any of these, so it’s a lot of fun.”

The runner-up finish was just fine with Johnson, though, as he moved within 26 points of series leader Matt Kenseth with three races remaining.

Chase for the Cup final standings Driver Points Behind 1. Jimmie Johnson 6,723 -- 2. Jeff Gordon 6,646 77 3. Clint Bowyer 6,377 346 4. Matt Kenseth 6,298 425 5. Kyle Busch 6,293 430 6. Tony Stewart 6,242 481 7. Kurt Busch 6,231 492 7. Jeff Burton 6,231 492 9. Carl Edwards 6,222 501 10. Kevin Harvick 6,199 524 11. Martin Truex Jr. 6,164 559 12. Denny Hamlin 6,143 580 Standings final as of Nov. 18

Johnson got off to a slow start in the Chase and was eighth, 156 points behind then-leader Jeff Burton just four weeks ago. But a second-place finish at Charlotte followed by the wins in Martinsville and second place here have put him right back into the mix for a shot at winning the one honor that has escaped him in his first four seasons in NASCAR’s top stock car series.

“We got off to a rough start (in the Chase), but we had the speed in the car and now we’re getting the results,” Johnson said. “It was a fun race. You really had to challenge yourself and scare yourself on every lap.”

Chase contenders Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kenseth fought it out for third place, with Earnhardt winning the battle by inches.

Earnhardt, who overcame losing a lap with a flat tire early in the race, took the lead when he stayed on track while all the other drivers on the lead lap pitted under caution on lap 306.

MORE FROM NASCAR / MOTORS

NASCAR / Motors Section Front

Martin faces daunting task in final race   Johnson, Martin take title race into finale Johnson looks to cap title run with race win Opinion: Johnson's dominance not embraced by fans Johnson takes pole at Homestead Johnson signs extension with Hendrick through 2015 For Hendrick, a 1-2-3 finish might make history Gordon wants to keep driving for Hendrick Kyle Busch wins title, Nationwide finale RPM driver Kahne will look elsewhere after 2010 NASCAR / Motors Section Front   Add NASCAR / Motors headlines to your news reader: