Tony Stewart wins at Las Vegas with late pass

LAS VEGAS -- Timing the restart perfectly, Tony Stewart dove to the edge of the apron and ducked under the two cars in front of him. With one bold move, the defending Sprint Cup champion was on his way to a redemptive win.

Stewart made a three-wide pass on a late restart and held off Jimmie Johnson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, winning at a track that was the site of his biggest disappointment last season.

"We had to wait 365 days for a shot at it again," Stewart said. "I might not have been so mad on the airplane had I known I was going to win a year later."

Stewart came back to Las Vegas with a new crew chief and the hope of having a little better luck than he had a year ago when a pit mishap spoiled a chance at victory with what he believed to be the best car in the field.

With Steve Addington calling the shots from the pit box, Stewart again had a good car this year, uncatchable on the restarts and good enough to hold off Johnson, Greg Biffle and anyone else who tried to track him down.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a car that fast," said Biffle, who finished third. "On the restarts, I've just never seen a car driving off like that."

Stewart got the lead with a did-he-just-do-that move with 34 laps to go in the 400-mile race. Coming around turn 4 to the start/finish line, Stewart charged up behind Brad Keselowski and timed it just right to dip below him on the apron. He zipped to the front and stayed there, pulling away on three more less thrilling restarts over the final 17 laps.

"We almost got too good a restart because I got such a good run on Brad, I almost got there too quick," Stewart said. "If we'd have got there a foot earlier, we'd have had to check up and probably wouldn't get a run and get underneath him like that."

A year ago, Stewart appeared to be cruising to Victory Lane at Las Vegas, only to be tripped up in the pits. He was penalized for leaving his pit stall with an air hose still attached.

"I really believe Tony is really coming into his own with Stewart-Haas Racing," co-owner Gene Haas said. "He's as calm as I've ever seen him, composed, very confident in what he does. I have no doubt this could be another pivotal year for Tony."