Tony Stewart trims Carl Edwards' NASCAR points lead by beating him to Texas win

The Stewart Haas driver continued to close on the series points lead after beating Chase leader Carl Edwards with a categoric win, taking home a perfect score that now places him only three points behind his Roush Fenway rival.

Stewart led 173 out of the scheduled 334 laps, jumping to the front seven different times. His most emphatic move over his main title rival came on the final restart, following the fifth caution of the day for debris on the track, with Stewart beating Edwards to the lead as the green flag waved for the last time.

With one more stop pending for fuel for the leaders after that, strategies came into play as some gambled on making it to the end without an extra stop. However none of those taking the risk succeeded, Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton leading until running dry four laps from the end.

While Stewart took the lead back, Edwards struggled with slower traffic as he tried to Chase down the #14 Chevrolet. The two-time Cup champion went on to win by over a second, claiming his second career win at Texas, and matching Jimmie Johnson for the most wins during a Chase with his fourth play-off victory.

"I told you guys that last week, nobody listens to me when I talk anymore..." said Stewart. "We are set on it man, this is just the way it is going to be. Do not count us out of this thing; I can tell you that, we did everything we could do today."

Edwards, who led the race briefly for 14 laps, suffered with a blistering right front early on but was able to manage tyre wear later in the race, remaining a contender for victory throughout. Despite his defeat, as the championship turns into a two-horse race, he remains positive ahead of the final two races as he continues to lead the standings.

"On that last restart, I think if I could have stayed in front of him, I'd have been able to get him," said Edwards.

"I give those guys credit, they've done a good job, but now we get to kind of pull out all the stops here. Our team, we've been hanging on. We're leading these points."

Red Bull's Kasey Kahne carried on his impressive Chase form with third in the end, looking particularly strong in the penultimate stint of the race as most of the leaders pitted for right-side tyres while he went for a full set, giving up track position but coming back to contend for the lead.

Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth was fourth after leading most of the first half of the race, his team-mate Greg Biffle fifth behind him and Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon recovered from a poor qualifying to run among the top 10 for most of the day, finishing sixth in the end.

His team-mate Johnson was also a top-five contender at some points but spun at the exit of Turn 4 on lap 241, causing the caution to wave for the third time in the afternoon, then recovered to finish 14th but lost further ground in the Chase.

RCR's Kevin Harvick took on two new tyres on his final stop and briefly jumped ahead of Stewart and Edwards but his gamble backfired as he lost pace and struggled to a 13th-place finish that puts him now 33 points behind the Chase leader.

Results - 334 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet       3h16m51.000s
 2.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                + 1.092s
 3.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota                  + 6.053s
 4.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                + 6.369s
 5.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford                + 6.920s
 6.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet              + 11.046s
 7.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet              + 11.525s
 8.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                  + 12.826s
 9.  Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet             + 14.984s
10.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford                      + 17.392s
11.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                      + 17.786s
12.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford               + 20.684s
13.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet             + 21.070s
14.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet              + 21.285s
15.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet             + 23.776s
16.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet          + 24.416s
17.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford              + 27.457s
18.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet     + 29.298s
19.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet              + 30.176s
20.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                      + 1 lap
21.  Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota                   + 1 lap
22.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota                    + 1 lap
23.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet           + 1 lap
24.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                      + 1 lap
25.  Casey Mears         Germain Toyota                    + 1 lap
26.  Landon Cassill      Phoenix Chevrolet                + 2 laps
27.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              + 2 laps
28.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota             + 2 laps
29.  Andy Lally          TRG Chevrolet                    + 2 laps
30.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge                     + 3 laps
31.  Travis Kvapil       Front Row Ford                   + 3 laps
32.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   + 3 laps
33.  Michael McDowell    Gibbs Toyota                     + 3 laps
34.  Mike Bliss          FAS Lane Ford                    + 5 laps
35.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet               + 18 laps
36.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet     + 39 laps

Retirements:

     Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                     258 laps
     Geoffrey Bodine     Baldwin Chevrolet                215 laps
     Scott Speed         Whitney Ford                      30 laps
     Josh Wise           HP Toyota                         23 laps
     Mike Skinner        Max Q Ford                        19 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      14 laps
     JJ Yeley            Front Row Ford                    10 laps