Because he didn't have anything to lose, Tony Stewart finally won.
Entering Monday's rain-delayed Chase for the Sprint Cup opener ranked ninth of 12 drivers, the two-time NASCAR champion rolled the dice on strategy and captured the Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Stewart led 28 of the last 30 laps around the 1.5-mile oval, coaxing his fuel-starved No. 14 Chevrolet to the checkered flag as several championship contenders ran out of gas.
"We had to press," Stewart said after ending a 32-race winless streak that dated to last October. "We had nowhere to go but up. What are we going to lose if it doesn't work? We really weren't taking a gamble.
Updated Chase standings
Rank, driver Points Prev. Mon. (points)
1. Kevin Harvick 2054 2nd 2nd (42)
2. Tony Stewart 2047 9th 1st (47)
3. Carl Edwards 2044 5th 4th (41)
4. Kurt Busch 2043 7th 6th (40)
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2041 10th 3rd (41)
6. Brad Keselowski 2040 11th 5th (40)
7. Ryan Newman 2040 8th 8th (37)
8. Jimmie Johnson 2038 6th 10th (35)
9. Kyle Busch 2035 1st 22nd (23)
10. Matt Kenseth 2030 4th 21st (24)
11. Jeff Gordon 2029 3rd 24th (20)
12. Denny Hamlin 2013 12th 31st (13)
Next race: Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday (2 p.m. ET, ESPN)
"I was more worried about getting the win than what was going to happen if we didn't."
With his 40th career victory (tying Mark Martin for 16th on NASCAR's all-time list), Stewart kept intact a streak of having won in each of his 13 Cup seasons. He also jumped to second in points but still didn't seem ready to remove a self-applied underdog label. Last week, Stewart left himself off list of pre-Chase title favorites.
"Today doesn't change my mind," said the Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner, who notched his third consecutive top-10 finish for the first time this year.
"I feel better about it, obviously.One day doesn't change the whole season. We've got nine more hard weeks, and we have some tracks that have been a struggle. But this gets us off to the right start."
Runner-up Kevin Harvick, who took over the points lead, isn't ruling out Stewart.
"That's pretty funny that he counts himself out," he said. "There's no way they're going to be totally out to lunch."
Five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson was one of many drivers to run out of fuel. He wound up 10th. Others — Matt Kenseth (21st), Kyle Busch (22nd) and Jeff Gordon (24th) — were less fortunate.
Johnson is eighth in points, 16 behind Harvick.
"From my driving style, I've never been all that good with fuel mileage," Johnson said. "Not what we wanted."
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