Stewart finally had broken through for his long-coveted first victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, so he came to the Speedway in a relaxed state of mind. No longer would he hear any of the "When are you going to win at Indy?" questions that followed and rankled him for nearly a decade.

Fast-forward three months. Stewart still is very relaxed, but for the wrong reason: He wasn't one of the 10 drivers to qualify for the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup despite winning the title last year. So Stewart is racing without the pressure and media glare facing the 10 Chase drivers, and it is suiting him quite well.

Stewart is the hottest driver in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, winning three of the eight races completed in the Chase. He has won the last two races, including shredding the field by leading 278 of 339 laps Nov. 5 at Texas Motor Speedway.

{{display_poll_16}}No driver has scored more points than Stewart in the last eight races, so the Chase drivers should do a group exhale that "Smoke" missed the cut by just 16 points.

"Winning two weeks in a row shows that this race team is pretty darn good," Stewart said. "With us having a relaxed atmosphere and attitude, we're all working better with each other. We're probably a tighter-knit group than we've ever been, and I think that's something carrying into next year that everybody else is going to have to worry about."

Another thing that should worry Stewart's rivals is his newfound fitness.

In the past, Stewart attacked cheeseburgers with almost the same ferocity he raced his rivals. He bought exercise equipment for his Columbus, Ind., home after last season but admitted that he used it more to dry clothes than to shape up last winter.

But Stewart recently committed himself to fitness. He has worked for the last month with a personal trainer, who travels with him to races, and has lost 15 pounds through regular aerobic exercise and diet changes.

Stewart's Home Depot team also is in great shape, providing him with cars the last two weeks that resemble bullet trains.

"It was one of those days where, in 27 years I've been racing, I can count on two hands the amount of times I've had a car that was this good all day long from start to finish," Stewart said of his Home Depot Chevrolet after winning at Texas. "Last week was one of them, and this week was another one.

"We just had such a good car tonight. We could get a straightaway lead at any time.

"I feel like the team is doing a great job. Their attitude has been, 'Let's see what we can do, and let's see how many races we can win.' We don't feel like we have to prove anything to anybody. We're all happy and having fun, and we're winning races.

"You can't ask for more out of a race team than that."