TALLADEGA, Ala. - Tony Stewart was comfortable on top of NASCAR's leaderboard, the obvious driver to beat in the Chase for the championship.

Now that a slight slip has cost him the points lead, Stewart isn't worried. He heads into Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway confident he can climb back on top.

"I don't feel like we're really in a catch-up mode," Stewart said. "We had our bad week and even with that, we're only 23 points behind. We could take the points lead back this weekend very easily."

So sure of himself, Stewart ran just a handful of laps during Friday's practice session before heading back to his motorhome to relax. While his rivals worked on their cars, Stewart chilled out barefoot and in a pair of shorts - choosing not to reflect on the poor run last weekend in Dover, Del., that cost him the points lead for the first time in eight weeks.

He's now tied with Greg Biffle for fifth in the Chase for the championship standings, but only trails new leader Jimmie Johnson by 23 points.

But even Biffle knows that Stewart will be the driver to beat in the UAW-Ford 500. After all, Stewart will be driving the same Chevrolet he used in his dominating victory at Daytona in July.

"I think (Stewart) is clearly the one we're going to be chasing," Biffle said. "That team has figured out something that has made them pretty good at these places."

Talladega and Daytona are the only two tracks in NASCAR that require horsepower-sapping carburetor restrictor-plates and Stewart has shown a sudden knack for excelling at them. He's led 260 of 557 laps this season at the three plate races and has an average finish of third.

He finally scored his Daytona victory, but is still searching at Talladega - although he does have four runner-up finishes.

Stewart is so comfortable these days at plate races, that he's changed the strategy he used earlier in his career when he purposely lagged at the back of the field in an effort to avoid the inevitable big wreck that wipes out half the field.

Stewart said he enjoyed that strategy, joking Friday that it allowed him to "put one hand on the roll bar and drive with one hand for half the race. I get my drink bottle out when I get thirsty driving down the backstretch and drive with my knee until I get the straw in my mouth."

But experience has taught Stewart to do what his car is capable of. If he can mix it up at the front of the pack, he'll go for it regardless of what stage of the race it is. And if the handling of his car is off, he's content to sit back and wait for the right time to make it.

"I think we've got a good sense of when it's time to go and then it's just a matter of getting with the right people," Stewart said.

Among the "right people" Stewart will be looking to draft with will likely be Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. Although neither are among the 10 drivers racing for the championship, both are still battling for wins this season and should be factors on Sunday.

Earnhardt is the defending race winner - remember, it briefly moved him into the points lead last season until he was docked 25 points for cursing during his Victory Lane interview - and he leads all active drivers with five Talladega wins.

Gordon, meanwhile, won here in April and has four Talladega wins. Gordon also won the season-opening Daytona 500.

But with teammate Johnson eligible for the title, Gordon said Sunday may be the day he is forced to help Johnson to his first restrictor-plate win. Johnson has been a dutiful understudy before, pushing Gordon to several of his plate wins.

"I would love to see Jimmie get in position where I could get behind him and help him all I can. I am going to work as hard as I can to get myself into that position," Gordon said. "He certainly has helped me plenty of times, and I want those guys to win the championship and I'm going to do everything that I can to help them."

Mark Martin is the only driver among the top 10 with a win at Talladega, doing it in 1995 and '97. His Roush Racing teammate Carl Edwards has the least amount of experience here - he's got just two starts with a best finish of 32nd.