Stewart, who turns 38 years old on Wednesday, crossed the finish line one second ahead of Kenseth for his first victory as driver and owner in NASCAR's top-tier series.

"It's awesome," Stewart said. "I've been very fortunate as a car owner with the USAC cars and winning championships and winning the Knoxville Nationals championship with our World of Outlaws teams. The most fun part about it from the ownership side was getting some of these guys to Victory Lane that have never been there before."

Stewart's first victory in the all-star race came in his 11th appearance. He also became the second driver/owner to win the annual event, joining Geoff Bodine, who did it in 1994.

Jeff Gordon, a three-time all-star winner, led the field for the start of the fourth and final segment that featured five lead changes in the last 10 laps.

Kyle Busch squeezed through the middle of Kenseth and brother Kurt Busch and then moved to the outside of Gordon to take the lead with nine laps to go.

Gordon reclaimed the position on the following lap, but Kyle Busch got a push from Ryan Newman to move to the outside of Gordon.

Busch, Gordon and Newman were running three-wide for the lead coming out of turn four before they made contact on the frontstretch, causing Gordon to spin and hit the outside wall.

"I heard three-wide right at the last second, and I was already wide open pulling it down as much as I could," Gordon said. "It felt like Kyle could have given me a little bit more room, and I might have been alright."

After the restart, Kenseth moved around Busch to take the lead, but Stewart chased down Kenseth and passed him on the inside.

"The last couple of laps, I'm obviously disappointed we lost," Kenseth said. "But I feel stupid. Looks like I rolled up and Tony went flying right by me, which he did."

Kenseth won the all-star race in 2004.

Kurt Busch finished third, followed Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.

Mark Martin, last week's winner at Darlington, came in sixth, while Kyle Busch ended up seventh.

Rookie Joey Logano, who won the Fan Vote to complete the 21-car starting field, finished eighth.

Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top-10. McMurray finished second to Sam Hornish Jr. in the 40-lap Sprint Showdown preliminary race as both drivers transferred into the main event.

Gordon wound up finishing 19th after his night ended prematurely.

Jimmie Johnson started on the pole and led all 50 laps in the opening segment. Johnson, however, made contact with the wall on the third segment and then spun after Hamlin bumped him from behind on the first lap of the shootout. He finished 13th.

Hornish Jr. got loose and bumped Greg Biffle, sending Biffle into the wall on lap 72.

"(Hornish) just drove in there probably a little too hard, trying to get a little too much on that restart," Biffle said. "He just got loose underneath me."

Biffle finished 21st, while Hornish came in 16th.

Stewart's victory celebration included his team - not Stewart - climbing the frontstretch fence.

"I think they took that upon themselves to do it," Stewart revealed. "I said, 'No way, I'm not doing this again. I'm too old to be doing it'."

Stewart, a two-time Cup Series champion, started the tradition several years ago.