By Ryan - Posted on May 20, 2009

For the first time in his storied career, the NASCAR news of the day is that Tony Stewart is now an all-star.  In a race that turned out to live up to the hype, Stewart passed Matt Kenseth on lap 99 to take the win at Lowes Motor Speedway.  To top it off, this is Stewart’s first win as a driver/owner.

“Smoke” is known to open his mouth more than any other driver, normally critical of NASCAR decisions and its officials.  But, this time he was very complimentary to Kenseth and Roush Fenway.  "I just cannot believe he gave me the bottom. But I'll take it. Matt is a guy you can trust.”  That is about as close as you can get to a compliment from the two time Cup champion, and is a credit to Kenseth’s skill behind the wheel.

For his part, Kenseth, himself an all star winner was gracious in defeat.  “It was actually pretty good for five or six laps, but with all the short runs and cautions [three after the start of the final segment] and getting the body banged in a little bit, it just hurt it, and with three or four [laps] to go, it started getting really tight and wouldn't turn at all that last lap. And Tony just rolled on by."

Since becoming a driver/owner at the beginning of the year with the formation of Stewart-Haas Racing, Tony has 5 top 5’s and 8 top 10’s in 11 starts.  That’s not bad for an owner that doesn’t drive his own car.  To top it off, he has a new crew chief in Darien Grubbs since his longtime box partner Greg Zipadelli is still under contract with Gibbs Racing.  Now he has a win under his belt as an owner, albeit a non-points race.  He sits solidly in second place behind Jeff Gordon in points going into the Coca Cola 600.  Expect more out of Smoke and crew in the future, because he has never run in the back of the pack.