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After one of the toughest races of the year, it was Tony Stewart and the No. 14 car that took the checkered flag of the 2013 FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway Sunday afternoon.

The racing was intense all day, but Stewart was able to finally corral the rest of the field and lead the last and most important lap, winning his first race of the season. Juan Pablo Montoya finished in second place by a margin of .788 seconds.   

Sunoco Racing talks about just how wild Sunday’s race was:

Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

2013 FedEx 400 Top 10 Results

*Visit NASCAR.com for full results and race times.

Dover International Speedway is one of the wildest tracks on the NASCAR circuit, and Sunday’s race exemplified that from start to finish. After a 1:15 p.m. ET start time, the field began to attack the mile-long track that was running especially slick on the hot June afternoon.

NASCAR’s official Twitter shared a great photo of the start:

Drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Stewart began to report back to their crew chiefs around 30 laps into the race that the track was changing with the more rubber and heat put into the Dover concrete.

It was just a few laps later that fan-favorite Danica Patrick was forced to the pits after making contact with David Stremme. Jeff Gluck of USA Today reported what Patrick said about her green-flag stop:

The racing for the rest of the first half of Dover was relatively clean, with two debris cautions on Lap 79 and 126. Then on Lap 159, then-leader Matt Kenseth blew his engine and was forced to the garage. NASCAR insider Reid Spencer talked about the incident:

As a serious favorite to win the race, Kenseth’s early exit gave hope to everyone else in the field.

The race entered the halfway mark (200 of 400 laps) with the weather starting to change drastically as the cloud cover began to hit Delaware, but the constant disparities by the sun and clouds kept the track from ever finding a consistent temperature.

It was about 30 laps later that the field was forced to begin green-flag pit stops once again. The No. 48 car and Jimmie Johnson took the lead after starting the race in the 24th spot and going a lap down.

Fox’s NASCAR Twitter account shared the amazement about Johnson’s success:

Lap 279 brought out the caution flag for Martin Truex’s blown motor, allowing the field to be reshuffled and bringing the madness back to the Monster Mile. The racing was as intense as it had been all day when Ryan Newman and David Gilliland got into a wreck on Lap 299.

Motorsports insider Jordan Bianchi described the altercation following the accident:

Once the green flag fell again, the best drivers on the course started to make their parade to the front. The back-and-forth racing in the last 100 laps at Dover International Speedway was flat-out amazing and proved why the fans love this track.

The field managed to keep the racing clean for the majority of the rest of the race, forcing several teams to make late pit stops, potentially hurting their chances of contending for a win.

Gluck reported Busch was one of the victims of the long green-flag run:

A penalty to Johnson on the late restart forced the No. 48 team a lap down and out of contention late.

After Johnson was removed from contention, it came down to a battle between Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart. It was a late-lap pass by Stewart that finally capped off the thrilling win at Dover.

2013 Sprint Cup Standings

*Complete standings found at NASCAR.com.

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