Two-tire gamble pays for Stewart

? Tony Stewart didn’t have time for a debate. He had one last chance to grab the victory at Kansas Speedway, and it came down to one critical decision.

Two tires or four?

The two-time series champion asked for two on the final pit stop Sunday, and crew chief Darian Grubb immediately agreed with the strategy. The rapid thinking got Stewart the race lead, and he held on over the final 26 laps for his fourth victory of the season.

“He asked me what I thought, I kind of put my vote in, and he said it was exactly what he was thinking,” Stewart said. “It made me feel good that we both agreed on the same thing that quick. It was like, to both of us, it wasn’t even an option. We pretty much knew what we both needed.”

What he needed was a win.

After a rocky start to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, Stewart found himself in danger of allowing Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson to pull the title out of his reach in just the third of 10 races. Stewart went into the race fifth in the standings, 106 points behind leader Martin, and in a slump of five of six finishes outside the top 10.

Grubb knew they needed to turn it up, and soon, to stay in title contention.

“We knew going into the Chase it was a must-win situation,” Grubb said. “You’re going to have to win races against these competitors. You have to go in with the mindset you have to win races.”

The victory at Kansas moved Stewart up one spot in the standings to fourth, and his deficit was cut from 106 points to 67 behind Martin.

Stewart then raced through his celebration to fly off to Iowa, to compete with teammate Ryan Newman in the Knoxville Dirt Late Model Nationals, which were rained out Saturday night.

“As soon as I get done with this stimulating conversation that we’re having here … then I’m going to get to Knoxville as quickly as I can,” he said in his post-race news conference. “That’s my goal, to get out of here soon. Just a hint.”

Martin, the pole-sitter, finished seventh and maintained his lead in the standings. He’s up 18 points over three-time defending series champion Johnson, who finished ninth after a bad pit call put him in traffic that he couldn’t overcome.

Martin wasn’t in a celebratory mood despite maintaining his lead: There were only three drivers within 100 points of him at the start of the race, now the field has seven within 103.