Stewart slept a little later than usual on Sunday morning and skipped the usual sponsor obligations, staying as calm and focused as possible. In the race, he was the epitome of patience — not his usual style.

It paid off.

This race was up for grabs nearly to the end, with Stewart taking his first lead by passing Brian Vickers with 60 laps to go. But the 25-year-old Kahne, last year’s top rookie, didn’t make it easy, passing Stewart for the lead with 27 laps left in the 160-lap event — bringing a groan from the crowd of more than 250,000.

Stewart stayed with Kahne, though. After Jimmie Johnson — who came into the race as the points leader — blew a tire and hit the wall on lap 144, bringing out the last of nine caution flags in the race, Stewart took advantage of the restart on lap on lap 150 to regain the lead.

Kahne hung onto the rear bumper of Stewart’s orange No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet for a couple of laps, but Stewart finally began pulling away and raced on to win by 0.794-seconds — about five car-lengths.

Stewart, who has climbed the fence to the flagstand after his most recent victories this year, parked his car in the corner of turn two after the cool-down lap and walked up to the foot of the fence, where he popped open a can of soda and started sipping.

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Then he got back in his car, started it up and headed for the start-finish line. After getting hugs from his crew, he lay down on the concrete wall at the bottom of the fencing, holding a checkered cloth to his forehead, wearing a giddy grin all the while.

“I’m dying right now,” said Stewart, who noted the air conditioning in his driving suit only worked sporadically on the hot day. “Too tired to chase fences right now. Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready.”

Finally, Stewart regained enough energy to really begin his victory celebration, taking a slow ride around the famed 2.5-mile oval in a convertible truck, smiling and waving to the cheering fans.

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