By Ryan - Posted on November 9, 2011

They say that it’s not bragging if you can back it up. Last week, after his win at Martinsville, Tony Stewart warned Carl Edwards that he was going to have a challenging three weeks in front of him. He backed up those words with a win at Texas Motor Speedway, his fourth win during the 10-race Chase for the Championship. The victory kept him in second place in the points, but Carl Edwards’ lead has shrunk from eight points last week to a slim three points now.

Stewart enjoyed a dominant car, leading more than half of the 334 laps. With 60 laps to go, Edwards was the leader on the restart, on the inside of Stewart, who was in second. Edwards was able to hold that lead only into Turn 2, when Stewart passed him for the lead. They ran 1-2 until the final pit stop with 31 laps to go, when they gave up the lead. With only 5 laps left, leader Jeff Burton, who had not made a late pit stop, ran out of fuel. Stewart assumed the lead and took the checkered flag in front of Edwards.

In victory lane, Stewart toned down his rhetoric from a week ago, but still showed confidence. "I don't think we have to say anything," he said. "I think our performance spoke for itself. He knows we're there -- trust me. ... Carl kept us honest. We got all the bonus points we could get and we got the win, so we gained more than we needed to gain on the average for the week. It doesn't take much right now. It's one spot, if a guy wins the race. We're doing exactly what we need to do. I'm really confident right now."

Finishing behind Stewart and Edwards were Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, and Greg Biffle. The top ten was rounded out by Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Martin Truex, Clint Bowyer, and A.J. Allmendinger.  Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Newman were eliminated from the Chase.

The Sprint Cup series now moves to the next-to-the-last race at Phoenix.