Tony Stewart dippedsintoshis past Sunday, and the result was his first career 500-mile victory.

　　Stewart slid under Ward Burton for the lead with 24 laps to go and held off Dale Earnhardt (news - web sites) Jr. to win the MBNA America 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was Stewart's 13th career victory.

　　"It feels great, I think this is my first 500-mile win," Stewart said. "I wanted to get by (Burton) as fast as I could. I thought if we could get by him and get in clean air, we'd be all right."

　　The decisive pass came in Turn 1, when Stewart moved to the inside and slid in front of Burton. It was similar to the "slide-job" passes Stewart used throughout his sprint cars days, although most of those were on dirt. This was on pavement, and at 190 mph.

　　"I had four or five of those today," Stewart said of the technique. "You have to knowswherestheir weak spot is on the race track. The biggest thing was, even if I had to check up when I got in front of him, I just had to get in front."

　　One of NASCAR (news - web sites)'s most outspoken drivers, Stewart has complained all year about the aerodynamic disadvantages of his Pontiac. He didn't have any problems Sunday, leading the most laps for the second straight race to get his first victory of the season. He beat Earnhardt by about five car lengths.

　　But he wasn't ready to give up asking for help. "Not if you sat in the car with me in fourth or fifth spot behind a bunch of cars," Stewart said. "Just like last week, when we were out in clean air, we were fast."

　　After a 43rd-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, Stewart has finished in the top five in three straight races and climbed backsintosthe points race. He's now fifth, 101 points behind leader Sterling Marlin, who finished ninth.

　　The decisive pass was the 34th lead change of the day, a record for this race, although the finish didn't match the past two in this event. Kevin Harvick beat Jeff Gordon by .006 seconds last year, and Dale Earnhardt edged Bobby Labonte by .01 two years ago.

　　Earnhardt took second from Burton with 22 laps left and immediately began closing on Stewart by using a different line. With Stewart running on the bottom of the track, Earnhardt moved up a lane and got within two car lengths.

　　But Stewart adjusted his line and began pulling away. "I moved up the race track and it seemed to help my car, and I thought I might catch him," Earnhardt said. "But he moved up to the same line the next lap. He's a smart race car driver."

　　Rookie Jimmie Johnson continued his surprising start, finishing third. Matt Kenseth, forced to start at the rear of the field because he changed engines after qualifying, placed fourth. Ricky Craven was fifth. The competition at the front of the field was tight all day, with at least five cars in the hunt.

　　"It's always fun running here," Earnhardt said. "This race track always has good racing. You can make an attempt to pass a guy in almost every corner. I love racing here." NASCAR's new one-engine rule seemed to have dramatic effect, with at least seven cars suffering engine problems, including Harvick and Michael Waltrip.

　　Stewart's victory continued an amazing streak at the track by Joe Gibbs Racing. Bobby Labonte, Stewart's teammate and a winner at this track five times since 1996, dropped off the pace with a dropped cylinder.

　　"It's been a long time coming here for me," Stewart said. "Bobby always has a lot of luck here. I'm sorry he didn't have good luck today." Johnson, who finished sixth last week at Las Vegas, steadily charged through the field after starting 15th. He was closing on the top two at the checkered flag.

　　"I thought a couple of times there we might have a shot to win," Johnson said. "It just blows my mind that we've been this competitive this early."