Tony Stewart ended a two-year NASCAR winless drought yesterday after he was awarded victory by officials at Talladega when they ruled that Regan Smith's last-lap pass was illegal.

After putting together an unwanted sequence of 43 races without a win, Stewart was leading a late-race sprint at the Alabama circuit when rookie Smith crossed an out-of-bounds line on the inside of the track and finished ahead of the pack.

NASCAR officials said Smith's move violated rules and declared Stewart the winner while demoting Smith to 18th.

"It's one thing to get back to victory lane, but to do it to Talladega... I've wanted to win here for so long," Stewart told reporters after finally going one better than the six second place finishes he had registered at the famous track.

After Smith's demotion, Paul Menard moved up to second with David Ragan third, Jeff Burton fourth and Clint Bowyer fifth.

"I was always told the rule is that if you're forced down there you're the winner and on the last lap anything goes," Smith, who thought Stewart had forced him below the yellow line, told reporters.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson increased his lead after finishing ninth. He now leads Carl Edwards by 72 points and Greg Biffle by 77.

A major accident involving Edwards and Biffle with 14 laps remaining of the scheduled 188-lap race hurt their chances.

Edwards's car bumped Biffle's and at least 11 vehicles were affected by the crash, including those of Dale Earnhardt Jr, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick. Edwards had trailed Johnson by 10 points before the race.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily October 6, 2008)