LAS VEGAS - Timing the restart perfectly, Tony Stewart dove to the edge of the apron and ducked under the two cars in front of him.

With one bold move, the defending Sprint Cup champion was on his way to a redemptive win.

Stewart made a three-wide pass on a late restart and held off Jimmie Johnson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, winning at a track that was the site of his biggest disappointment last season.

"We had to wait 365 days for a shot at it again," Stewart said. "I might not have been so mad on the airplane had I known I was going to win a year later."

Stewart came back to Las Vegas with a new crew chief and the hope of having a little better luck than he had a year ago, when a pit mishap spoiled a chance at victory with what he believed to be the best car in the field.

With Steve Addington calling the shots from the pit box, Stewart again had a good car in his return trip to the desert, uncatchable on the restarts and good enough to hold off Johnson, Greg Biffle and anyone else who tried to track him down.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a car that fast," said Biffle, who finished third. "On the restarts, I've just never seen a car driving off like that."

Stewart got the lead with a did-he-just-do-that move with 34 laps to go in the 400-mile race.

Coming around turn 4 to the start/finish line, Stewart charged up behind Brad Keselowski and timed it just right to dip below him on the apron. He zipped to the front and stayed there, pulling away on three more less-thrilling restarts over the final 17 laps.

It was his sixth win in the past 13 Sprint Cup races and first on the 1.5-mile tri-oval not far from the bright lights of the The Strip.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. dominated the early part of the race, leading 70 of the first 73 laps - 18 more than he had in all of 2011. He dropped back after taking four tires while nearly else took two during a caution on lap 74 and struggled with his car in traffic after that, finishing 10th to extend his winless streak to 132 races.

NASCAR Sprint Cup

Kobalt Tools 400

Sunday

At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las Vegas, Nev.

Lap length: 1.5 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (7) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 267 laps, 141.7 rating, 48 points, $428,175.

2. (6) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 267, 115.4, 43, $281,776.

3. (9) Greg Biffle, Ford, 267, 121.8, 42, $207,365.

4. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 267, 99, 40, $201,273.

5. (21) Carl Edwards, Ford, 267, 98, 39, $187,281.

6. (5) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 267, 93.6, 39, $150,854.

7. (26) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 267, 92.2, 37, $127,865.

8. (19) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 267, 94.8, 36, $152,498.

9. (25) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 267, 78.5, 0, $112,865.

10. (4) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 267, 113.1, 35, $118,240.

11. (3) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 267, 107.7, 34, $153,641.

12. (16) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 267, 78.7, 33, $150,241.

13. (15) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 267, 75.5, 31, $133,313.

14. (22) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 267, 71.9, 30, $142,680.

15. (28) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 267, 69.8, 29, $129,413.

16. (8) Joey Logano, Toyota, 267, 76.4, 28, $111,230.

17. (10) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267, 95.7, 27, $128,069.

18. (13) Mark Martin, Toyota, 267, 74.5, 26, $99,755.

19. (1) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 267, 94.3, 25, $112,555.

20. (17) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267, 63.2, 24, $140,321.

21. (35) David Ragan, Ford, 267, 55.1, 24, $113,063.

22. (11) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 267, 110.4, 23, $140,691.

23. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 266, 74.1, 21, $138,363.

24. (27) Aric Almirola, Ford, 266, 59.7, 20, $130,366.

25. (29) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 264, 51.8, 19, $122,846.

26. (24) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 264, 56.6, 18, $113,388.

27. (32) Casey Mears, Ford, 264, 42, 17, $101,788.

28. (43) David Stremme, Toyota, 263, 45.4, 16, $98,677.

29. (38) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 263, 44.7, 15, $85,905.

30. (41) Ken Schrader, Ford, 263, 37.7, 14, $97,630.

31. (31) David Reutimann, Chevrolet, 261, 51, 13, $85,430.

32. (20) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 259, 72.6, 13, $122,975.

33. (34) David Gilliland, Ford, 258, 34.9, 11, $85,030.

34. (23) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 252, 32.2, 10, $92,830.

35. (12) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, accident, 251, 69.2, 9, $92,605.

36. (30) Landon Cassill, Toyota, engine, 240, 47.8, 8, $110,750.

37. (14) A J Allmendinger, Dodge, 238, 66.4, 8, $128,755.

38. (39) Michael McDowell, Ford, rear gear, 147, 35, 6, $83,982.

39. (37) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, engine, 123, 40.1, 5, $88,450.

40. (33) Josh Wise, Ford, brakes, 64, 32, 4, $81,675.

41. (40) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, vibration, 44, 27.4, 0, $79,925.

42. (42) Timmy Hill, Ford, accident, 42, 27.3, 2, $79,780.

43. (36) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, engine, 39, 31.9, 1, $80,044.

Top 12 in Points: 1. G.Biffle, 125; 2. K.Harvick, 115; 3. D.Hamlin, 113; 4. D.Earnhardt Jr., 107; 5. M.Kenseth, 102; 6. C.Edwards, 102; 7. T.Stewart, 100; 8. M.Truex Jr., 98; 9. J.Logano, 98; 10. M.Martin, 97; 11. P.Menard, 89; 12. Ky.Busch, 87.