Stewart held off Marcos Ambrose to win the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen. The victory was third for Stewart in 2009 and the 11th for cars using WIX Filters (including the Budweiser Shootout and Sprint All-Star Race.

Stewart grabbed the lead for the final time when he muscled his way past Kyle Busch on lap 67 of the 90-event and never looked back. He took the checkered flag 2.969 seconds ahead of Ambrose. Stewart led twice for 34 laps and earned WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors for the sixth time in 2009. He holds a one-race lead (6-5) in the overall standings over Kyle Busch.

“It was an awesome day,” Stewart said. “We weren't as strong as we needed to be at the start, till the end of the first run. I appreciate Darian[Grubb, crew chief] and the guys. They did an awesome job. There was a lot of stuff to do that was lengthy time-wise. I think we only lost six spots. To do what they did in that short amount of time was pretty phenomenal. That kept us up good enough in track position to where we could start working our way through there.”

The increasing track temperature during the race played to Stewart’s advantage.

“I like it when it gets hot and slick here,” Stewart said. “It seems like it's that way anywhere. It kind of has played into our hand for the last 10 years it seems like. This part of the year when the temperatures are at their highest we tend to pick up. I think we can handle the slicker conditions sometimes a little better than some of the guys around us. It's nice to be able to be in that position where you know when it gets hot like that, a lot of guys panic because it's going to get slick. I get excited when I know it's going to get slick.”

Stewart won for the fifth time in 11 starts at Watkins Glen and for the 36th time in 378 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts. He leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings by 260 points over Jimmie Johnson and brushes aside the notion he has the title locked up.

“There's so much that can happen still,” Stewart said. “I feel like we're in a good shot to be a contender for it. I'm not sure I feel like we're a dominant contender yet. It's hard because there's so many good teams. The 48 [Jimmie Johnson], the 24 [Jeff Gordon], the 11 [Denny Hamlin], they've been really, really strong here in the last couple weeks. I think those are the three guys that we're worried about the most right now. But I think, you know, if you look at the past in the Chase here, I don't think that you can count anybody out that's going to make the Chase. They're strong and there's a reason they got there. I don't think at any point you can really count anybody out till mathematically they’re getting behind.”

Stewart added that the 10 bonus points he received for winning at Watkins Glen “were huge for us” in the seeding for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is very important. Each driver in the Chase earns 10 bonus points for each victory during the previous 26 races.

“That cuts the deficit down that we're going to be behind at the start of it in half,” Stewart said. “We're going to be in better shape here. We'll keep working hard. That's what we have to do. We keep the eye on the prize at the end of the year and those 10 bonus points could be a big factor at the end.

“Everybody asked if we're going to get off track and try things and get way out of the box. I'm not sure that we'll do a lot of that. I think we'll try different things, but I'm not sure we're going to totally get away from what got us to this point. I'm scared to get away from that. Sometimes you try different things and you get outside the box. When you try to come back, you never hit it exactly right. I think from our standpoint we got to kind of do what got us to the dance here and stay that course, but at the same time not be afraid to try little things here and there to try to make sure we're doing everything we can to be as good as we can be for the Chase.”

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit www.wixfilters.com.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit www.affiniagroup.com.

*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.