Tony Stewart

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Tony Stewart insisted he wasn't a title contender when NASCAR's championship race began. When it became clear he actually was a viable threat, he kicked it into another gear and vowed to go for broke in his pursuit of Carl Edwards. Did he ever. Stewart used a powerful and relentless drive - some might suggest the best in NASCAR history - yesterday in the season finale to seize his third NASCAR championship. He overcame a hole in the grill of his Chevrolet, a rain delay, used debatable fuel strategy and made 116 passes on the track to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Tony Stewart is talking with his bosses at Joe Gibbs Racing about splitting from the team, possibly with the idea of forming his own team, according to online reports. The two-time Cup champion wants to be released a year early from his contract, which expires at the conclusion of the 2009 season, ESPN.com reported, citing anonymous sources. While acknowledging that Stewart has "some options," JGR president J.D. Gibbs added: "The reality is he's racing here through 2009. There's no ifs, ands or buts about that one. Our stance is he's racing for us through 2009.

SLIDE OVER, Cale Yarborough. Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Allison and David Pearson, make a little room, please: Jimmie Johnson is joining your elite racing class. With a 141-point lead over Carl Edwards, Johnson needs to finish only 36th or better in the Sprint Cup season finale Sunday at Homestead, Fla., to threepeat. Yarborough (1976-78) is the only other driver to win three consecutive Cup series titles. "We're in the presence of greatness," ABC-TV's Dr. Jerry Punch said last Sunday as Johnson pulled into victory lane at Phoenix.

Matt Kenseth gave Jack Roush a win yesterday, but it's clear the team owner isn't completely happy. Roush, who fields four cars in the Winston Cup series, is still steaming over a 25-point penalty NASCAR levied last week against Roush Racing driver and title contender Mark Martin. A fourth-place finish by Martin in yesterday's Checker Auto Parts 500 in Avondale, Ariz., combined with an eighth-place finish by series leader Tony Stewart, chopped Stewart's lead from 112 to 89 points going into the season-finale next Sunday in Homestead, Fla. No matter what Martin does in that race, Stewart - a two-time winner at the Homestead-Miami Speedway - will capture the title if he doesn't lead a lap and finishes 22nd or better; leads one lap and finishes 24th or better; or leads the most laps and finishes 25th or better.

Tony Stewart's action on the track sparked a violent reaction off it. Seconds after Kasey Kahne wrecked his car after being tapped from behind by Stewart, Kahne's crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, charged into Stewart's pit. Baldwin and Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew chief, shouted at each other, and then members of the crews began fighting. "I was just talking to 'Zippy' and telling him his driver is a moron," Baldwin said. "They started pushing me and then the official grabbed me. I don't know what happened after that.

Michael Waltrip recalled a fishing trip. Tony Stewart called it racing's "biggest loss since Dale Earnhardt, and probably bigger. " Jimmie Johnson found it difficult to express his emotions. Nextel Cup racers climbed from their cars at Dover International Speedway yesterday to learn that NASCAR vice chairman Bill France Jr., 74, had died in Daytona Beach, Fla., after a long battle with cancer. The son of NASCAR's founder, Mr. France took over as president of the stock-car racing organization in 1972 and shepherded the sport for more than three decades.

Tony Stewart passed Jimmie Johnson on a restart with three laps to go in the TUMS Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville, Va., on Sunday and surged into contention for his third NASCAR Sprint Cup championship with three races left. The victory was the third for Stewart in the first seven races of the 10-race playoffs, and he was easily the leading benefactor as the points race was significantly jumbled. Stewart moved from 19 points behind leader Carl Edwards and in fourth place to just eight points behind in second as several contenders got caught up in a season-high 18 caution flags.

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Kasey Kahne snapped an 81-race winless streak yesterday by holding off championship contenders Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart at Phoenix International Raceway. Stewart dominated the race, leading 160 of the 312 laps, but had to pit for gas with 18 laps remaining. He then had to work his way back to the front, and used a late pass of Jeff Burton to finish third, right behind Edwards. The points margin didn't change, and Edwards goes into this weekend's season finale leading Stewart by three points.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The pack is back. And so is the Big One. Kyle Busch edged Tony Stewart in a thrilling finish to the first race of 2012, using a sling-shot pass Saturday night on the last lap of the exhibition Budweiser Shootout to beat the defending NASCAR champion to the checkered flag. It gave Busch a victory in a wild race that included two incredible saves by the eventual winner to stay in contention in the 75-lap sprint around Daytona International Speedway. "I don't know how many times I spun out, but I didn't spin out, you know?"

LAS VEGAS - Defending Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart made a bold move to take the lead on a late restart and held off Jimmie Johnson for a redemptive win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway yesterday. Frustrated by a pit mishap at Las Vegas a year ago, Stewart dipped below the two leaders from the second row to take the lead with about 30 laps left in the 400-mile race. He pulled away from Johnson on three more restarts over the final 17 laps for his first win on the 1.5-mile tri-oval in the desert.