RACE REPORT.(Motorsports)

Tony Stewart treasures every win. The famous and the obscure, the sprints and the marathons, the easy ones and the hard ones. But Stewart's first Martinsville win in 2000 remains sweeter than most.

Why? "Because the guy who ran second was Dale Earnhardt,'' Stewart said after his second win at the track. "I usually don't care who is back there, but that is probably more special because of him. But this one means a ton too, because we've been so good here [with little to show for it].''

The two-time and reigning NASCAR champ whipped some heavyweights: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch completed the top-five. Stewart's first win of the year and the 25th of his 254-start career came in the second half-mile bullring race of the season. The Bristol and Martinsville scorecard: two red flags, 34 incidents, 191 caution laps, more than 215,000 fans and untold sheetmetal damage in less than seven hours of racing.

Hardly anyone escaped this one unscathed. Earnhardt Jr. crashed twice and still finished fourth. Joe Nemechek didn't let three incidents snap his 38-race streak of running finishes. Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, David Stremme, Chad Chaffin, Travis Kvapil and Casey Mears went to the garage for repairs and returned. Burton was involved with Biffle, then Kurt Busch. Stremme went off after contact with Ken Schrader. Mark Martin and Casey Mears got together. Rookie Denny Hamlin claimed Martin ruined his day. Ryan Newman was penalized for intentionally creating a caution. Jeff Green and Sterling Marlin brought out a late caution.

Johnson didn't fuss when Stewart bumped past for good at 474. "I was fading, so I don't have any complaints,'' Johnson said. "Tony probably hit me four or five times. He got aggressive [when] I had a fading car.''

Stewart appreciated the attitude. "He's a good guy and I wasn't going to wreck him,'' the winner said. "But I roughed him up pretty good. Jimmie understands that, so I wouldn't have had a problem if he had done it back. That's just short-track racing.''

Pole-winner Johnson led the first 27 laps and three other times for 168 more. But Johnson lost the lead to Stewart then lost second to Gordon down the stretch. Even so, Johnson regained the points lead. Stewart led five times for 288 laps in clusters of 139, 45, 69, eight and the final 27.