NOTEBOOK: Stewart started overcoming early

            HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Maybe it was a Tooth Fairy laid off in the face of improved dental care.

            Things are tough all over, right?

            Something poked a hole in the front grille of Tony Stewart’s Chevy. The championship contender told his crew he never felt anything, but repairs set him back in the early laps of the Ford 400.

            Stewart never lost a lap and recovered. Shortly after the Sprint Cup finale reached the 100-lap mark, Stewart regained a spot in the top five, even while his chief nemesis, Carl Edwards, was dominating the race.

            There Stewart sat … literally. He was in fifth place when rain brought the race to a halt after 109 of the scheduled 267 laps.

            The delay, which brought total darkness to the event, lasted one hour, 14 minutes, six seconds.

            How sweet it is – The 123^rd lap was the first Stewart led. When the race resumed. Edwards gave up first place on pit road, and when the green flag waved, Jeff Gordon led. Stewart took first and Edwards stood third, with Gordon between the two.

            Seven laps later, Edwards took second and began pulling away from Gordon.

            Three laps after that, the race slowed thanks to a caution flag for Trevor Bayne’s second scraping of the wall.

            Strutting his stuff –  Stewart regained the lead by passing Martin Truex Jr. on th 152^nd lap, but his most impressive move – diving below three cars after a restart a few laps earlier – netted him second.

            Nothing to lose, as Stewart said repeatedly before the race.

            Edwards watchd from a safe distance and was third when the cars of Landon Cassill, Cole Whitt and Trevor Bayne crashed on the back straight at lap 154.

            Eureka – Edwards completed his own recovery by passing his Roush Fenway teammate, Matt Kenseth, for the lead on lap 174. Stewart, at the time, was moving up to third, past Truex.

            Stewart took second five laps later.

            No one cued the “Jaws” theme, but they might have.

Monte Dutton; 704-869-1841; twitter.com/montedutton