By MIKE HEMBREE
The Greenville (S.C.) News

CONCORD, N.C. - Tony Stewart passed Flyin' Ryan Newman, the dominant star of recent NASCAR runs, in the closing miles to win Saturday night's UAW-GM 500 Winston Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Stewart and Newman wrestled for the lead in the final 10 laps, with Stewart finally nudging past Newman with six laps to go. Stewart won by .60 of a second.

Following in the top five were Jimmie Johnson, Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon.

Newman, the pole winner, had won four of eight races entering the race.

The win was the second of the season for Stewart, the defending Winston Cup champion who has had a productive but not spectacular year. He led 149 of the 334 laps.

"It's about damn time in a Winston Cup race the fastest car wins a race without all this fuel mileage and tire (stuff)," Stewart said.

Johnson led 104 laps but couldn't contend with Stewart at the end.

Point leader Matt Kenseth finished eighth and gained a few points in the race for the Winston Cup championship. He leads second-place Kevin Harvick (who finished 10th Saturday night) by 267 points with five races left.

The race wasn't exactly the primetime showcase NASCAR and NBC might have hoped for when it was moved to evening hours from its traditional Sunday afternoon spot.

However, the day was noteworthy in NASCAR's half-century-plus history, marking the first time the sanctioning body's top three series had raced on the same day. Because of a Friday night rainout at LMS, the Little Trees 300 Busch race was held at midday. At Texas Motor Speedway, Brendan Gaughan won in the Craftsman Truck series.