updated 1:37 a.m. ET Aug. 8, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS - When victory finally came for Tony Stewart at Indianapolis on Sunday, it was everything he thought it would be.

“This is one of those days, I don’t want it to end,” Stewart said. “I don’t want to see the sun set. It’s definitely the greatest day of my life, professionally and personally up to this point.”

A lifelong quest to win a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended with Stewart finally getting his “Holy Grail,” and he made sure to draw out the celebration as long as he could while the partisan crowd roared with approval.

It wasn’t the native Hoosier’s beloved Indianapolis 500, but the former IndyCar champion, who has longed to win a race at the historic speedway, held off a determined challenge from Kasey Kahne to grab an emotional victory in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

As the partisan crowd screamed “Tony! Tony! Tony!” a beaming Stewart said, “You dream about something for so long, you become consumed by it. To finally get to see what it was like coming down that main straightaway seeing the checkered flags was just incredible.”

The 34-year-old Stewart, who came to NASCAR in 1999 from the Indy Racing League, where he was a champion, grew up coveting a victory at the historic track on the west side of Indianapolis.

In five tries in the 500, though, he never finished better than fifth. Until Sunday, his NASCAR resume wasn’t any better, with two fifth-place finishes his best efforts in six previous starts.

Stewart dominated the Brickyard race in 2002, starting from the pole and leading 43 laps only to fade to a 12th-place finish. He was so frustrated, NASCAR’s sometimes bad boy snapped and punched a photographer after the race.

Stewart was again the driver to beat in 2003, leading a race-high 60 laps. But two questionable stops for tires late in the race sent him reeling to another 12th-place finish and left him disappointed and frustrated.

Last year, he never led a lap and finished fifth.

His father, Nelson Stewart, has seen his son stress out in each previous try at Indy, saying, “When you do that, then anything can go wrong. It has (in the past), and that’s generally what happens.”

Not this time.

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Stewart moved from North Carolina back to his hometown, Columbus, Ind., earlier this year and has repeatedly said he has changed his attitude, enjoying life more and not getting upset when things go wrong at the racetrack or away from it.

He came to the speedway this month hopeful and confident, and is now the winner of four of his last six races and riding a string of seven straight top-10 finishes. Besides fulfilling his dream, Sunday’s victory vaulted Stewart into the lead in the Nextel Cup standings for the first time since he wrapped up his only Cup title in 2002.

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