Stewart wins Nationwide at Loudon

'Smoke' took only two new tyres while some of his rivals went for four or none on the last pit stop and was able to capitalise on the strategy - overtaking Carl Edwards on lap 135 to then coast to the chequered flag and Joe Gibbs Racing's eleventh win of the season.

"We were two stops away from getting it right," said Stewart after winning his fifth race in seven outings in the series this year. "That last stop is what won the race for us. To get track position and be able to stay up front and not have to over-drive the car or abuse the tyres was the key to the win."

Denny Hamlin finished the race in second place driving for Braun Racing, also taking on two new tyres on his last stop but not having enough pace to take on the JGR car of his Sprint Cup series teammate.

"In order to finish in between those two Gibbs teams as I know what they have over there and I know what they have over here at Braun Racing, it's amazing," said Hamlin who ran his car in plain black livery in memory of the mother of team owner Todd Braun, who passed away this week.

"We won the race here last year kind of the same way, with the same strategy. Everyone knows that and the No. 20 (Stewart) did it as well there and won the race on it. It kind of upsets the balance of the car so you've got to adjust and make sure you have the right adjustments."

Kyle Busch took on four new tyres on his last stop but was unable to translate his grip advantage into a win at a track where it is difficult to overtake - especially, according to Busch, with the tapered spacer restrictor that Nationwide cars run this season at most tracks.

"It's alright, it's a good finish to bring it home third and not a mark on it so fortunately that's the first time in a few races that we haven't crashed, so that was good," said Busch, who had led the most laps before the final stop.

"Obviously track position was more important (than new tyres) and that's the most frustrating part is now with this restrictor deal that you just can really pass and everybody get all strung out and everybody start running the same speed. You can't catch up to anybody, you can't pass anybody.

"That's more frustrating than getting beat on track position and stuff like that. Just not being able to pass."

Kevin Harvick finished fourth ahead of a disappointed Carl Edwards, who chose to keep the same set of tyres and take on fuel only on his last pitstop.

Dario Franchitti looked set for a good race but problems in the pits dropped him down the order and eventually cost him what the Scot believed to be an easy top ten finish. He crossed the line in 13th place, though, as the highest finishing rookie.

"That's really disappointing because the car has been fast and we threw away a top 10 today," he said. "We fought back, though. The car was unbelievably loose. The first 15 laps I was so loose.

"On the long run the car was pretty good, a little tight in the centre but again track position was just so important today and we threw away upwards of 15 spots with that mistake on pit road."

Clint Bowyer finished ninth and continues to lead the championship but David Reutimann has moved up to second place ahead of Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski, who finished tenth and dropped two spots in the point standings.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Tony Stewart        Toyota     200
 2.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     200
 3.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     200
 4.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  200
 5.  Carl Edwards        Ford       200
 6.  David Ragan         Ford       200
 7.  David Reutimann     Toyota     200
 8.  Mike Bliss          Chevrolet  200
 9.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  200
10.  Brad Keselowski     Chevrolet  200
11.  Jason Keller        Chevrolet  200
12.  Scott Wimmer        Chevrolet  200
13.  Dario Franchitti    Dodge      200
14.  Marcos Ambrose      Ford       200
15.  Mike Wallace        Toyota     200
16.  Bobby Hamilton Jr   Ford       200
17.  David Stremme       Chevrolet  200
18.  Patrick Carpentier  Dodge      200
19.  Greg Biffle         Ford       199
20.  Josh Wise           Dodge      199
21.  Steve Wallace       Chevrolet  199
22.  Kelly Bires         Ford       199
23.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet  198
24.  Kevin Lepage        Chevrolet  198
25.  Morgan Shepherd     Dodge      197
26.  Randy MacDonald     Dodge      196
27.  Eric McClure        Chevrolet  195
28.  Brad Teague         Chevrolet  193
29.  Mike Potter         Chevrolet  189
30.  Derrike Cope        Chevrolet  181
31.  Brad Coleman        Ford       180
32.  Jason Leffler       Toyota     143
33.  Stanton Barrett     Chevrolet  71
34.  Landon Cassill      Chevrolet  46
35.  Kertus Davis        Chevrolet  38
36.  Burney Lamar        Ford       33
37.  Andy Ponstein       Chevrolet  25
38.  Johnny Chapman      Chevrolet  18
39.  JC Stout            Chevrolet  16
40.  Kenny Hendrick      Chevrolet  15
41.  Charles Lewandoski  Dodge      4
42.  Mike Harmon         Chevrolet  3
43.  Justin Ashburn      Chevrolet  2