With his #20 Home Depot Chevrolet sporting a reversed paint scheme, Tony Stewart similarly turned his fortunes on their head with a strong fourth-place finish in Saturday night's Chevy American Revolution 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

It was Stewart's first top-ten finish since scoring an eighth-place result at Texas four races ago, but he had to work hard for it. Having started the 400-lap affair from 28th position, he began driving toward the front in his own inimical Richmond fashion. A five-time Richmond race winner - three in Nextel Cup and two in the Craftsman Truck Series - Stewart cracked the top-20 on lap 28 and the top-15 by lap 68.

When the second caution of the night fell on lap 102, Stewart and the rest of the field headed to pit-road for scheduled service. Four tyres and a full tank of fuel later, he restarted in ninth and, despite a rash of cautions that slowed his forward progress, entered the top-five following a restart on lap 143. He then passed Jeff Gordon for fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr for third by lap 164.

With all of the cautions - three between laps 122 and 152 - some drivers pitted while other stayed out in favour of track position. Stewart was amongst the latter group, but was forced to pit when another caution came out on lap 170, as he had to stay in sync with the rest of his competitors in terms of fuel mileage. With other drivers having already pitted during previous cautions, only a handful of drivers - mostly the leaders - pitted with Stewart and the result was the #20 restarting in the 15th spot when the race returned to green on lap 175.

It was of little matter though, as Stewart put his fresh Goodyears to work, knifing through the field to slip into third before another caution came out on lap 203. When the race restarted eight tours later, Stewart's march to the lead began again.

He passed Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Bobby Labonte for second on lap 213 and, after doggedly pursuing leader Michael Waltrip, grabbed the point on lap 251. At that stage, the Home Depot car was able to drive steadily away, ultimately holding a commanding lead as the race's only series of green flag pit stops began with a Dale Jarrett stop on lap 278.

Ten laps later, Stewart came to pit-road for his service, relinquishing the lead to Earnhardt. But, once the series of stops was complete, it was the #20 Chevrolet at the front of the field again, as Stewart paced the field between laps 325 and 345.

To pit or not to pit was the question as another yellow flew, and Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli agreed that they needed four tyres to be competitive to the end. Earnhardt, Gordon and Jimmie Johnson rolled the dice and opted not to pit, favouring track position over fresh rubber and, as a result, the lap 355 restart had Earnhardt in first, Johnson second, Gordon third and Stewart in fourth.

All raced hard, including Stewart, who got loose in turn three while going to the inside of Gordon on lap 359. Both drivers got a bit out of shape, with Labonte seizing the opportunity to grab third, while Stewart held onto fourth and Matt Kenseth slipped by Gordon to take fifth.