Martinsville, Va. • Tony Stewart passed Jimmie Johnson on a restart with three laps to go Sunday and surged into contention for his third NASCAR Sprint Cup championship with three races remaining.

Then, Stewart playfully called out points leader Carl Edwards in a duel to the finish.

"He better be worried. That's all I've got to say," Stewart said of Edwards in Victory Lane, a broad smile spreading across his face. "He's not going to sleep for the next three weeks."

The victory was the third for Stewart in the first seven races of the 10-race playoffs, and he was easily the leading benefactor as the points race was significantly jumbled.

Stewart moved from 19 points behind leader Edwards and in fourth place to just eight points behind in second as several contenders got caught up in a season-high 18 caution flags.

Even Stewart had trouble, at one point having to apologize to race leader Denny Hamlin for racing him hard to stay on the lead lap. And that was with less than 20 laps to go.

"I was pretty mad all day, but I was the only guy who didn't get in a wreck with somebody, so I was kind of proud of that," Stewart said.

The winning pass, he said, surprised even him.

"I don't think anybody has ever passed Jimmie Johnson on the outside," he said, crediting crew chief Darian Grubb for making the right calls and adjustments all race long. —

Sprint Cup standings

Pts. Beh.

1. Carl Edwards 2,273 —

2. Tony Stewart 2,265 -8

3. Kevin Harvick 2,252 -21

4. Brad Keselowski 2,246 -27

5. Matt Kenseth 2,237 -36

6. Jimmie Johnson 2,230 -43

7. Kyle Busch 2,216 -57

8. Kurt Busch 2,215 -58

9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2,200 -73

10. Jeff Gordon 2,197 -76

11. Denny Hamlin 2,193 -80

12. Ryan Newman 2,184 -89