In racing, ideally, the fastest driver wins. In practice, that doesn’t always work. Drivers get caught up in other drivers’ wrecks, drivers get sidelined by mechanical failure—only in a perfect world does the championship come down to the two fastest drivers racing one another in the last race of the season with everything on the line.
NASCAR’s 2011 Sprint Cup season achieved the ideal.
Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards came to Homestead-Miami Speedway knowing that whoever won the race would win the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. If Stewart won, he‘d tie Edwards in points and win his third championship by having won more races. If Edwards won, he’d win his first title by a few points.
With 33 laps left in the season, the two contenders were alone ahead of the field, racing for everything. After ten months of racing, the championship came down to Tony Stewart leading Carl Edwards by a second, with both drivers giving their all. In the end, the fastest won.
“If this doesn’t go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history I don’t know what will,” Stewart told ESPN. “We said all week we'd just go out and win the race and we didn’t have to worry about what [Carl Edwards] did and that’s what we did.”
“One thing I learned about this team, there’s no quit here. Everybody on this team has just dug deep and never given up. This is an awesome night.”
Carl Edwards, who did everything right all year long but just couldn’t win, had nothing but respect for Stewart.
“Those guys rose to the occasion. They beat us fair and square. That was all I had at the end,” Edwards told ESPN. “My guys did a really good job we came here and set the pole, led the most laps. Tony and Darian did a good job with their strategy, came out in front of us, and that was it.
“That was all I had at the end. That’s as hard as I can drive. I wish so bad we had that trophy but it just wasn’t meant to be tonight.”
Stewart won his first two titles driving for other owners; this is his first as a co-owner, and the first in the No. 14 Chevy.
Stewart’s car number used to belong to his hero, racing legend A.J. Foyt. Stewart told ESPN, “I guarantee you I will talk to him tonight and he will still tell me what I did wrong today, but I’m so proud. A.J.’s always been one of my heroes and he’s been very supportive of this. When I asked him if it would be all right if I took his number he was gave me his blessing. That meant the world to me.”
Stewart Beats Bad Breaks With Will to Win
Tony Stewart and the Stewart-Haas No. 14 Office Depot Chevy team had a tough season, not winning any races. When it came to the Chase, Stewart and his team turned it all around, winning five out of ten races and the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Stewart’s third.
The NASCAR Ford 400 mirrored the Chase: Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford, who had been consistently excellent throughout the season and throughout the Chase, was fast all day. He started from the pole, led the most laps, his pit stops were flawless, his strategy perfect.
Stewart had everything go wrong...
Stewart had everything go wrong. When rain stopped the race after 13 laps, Stewart ran over some debris which punched a fist-sized hole in the front of his car. By the time his crew repaired it, Stewart had dropped from eighth place to 40th.
Carl Edwards had the lead, Tony Stewart had a huge deficit—Stewart had no deficit of confidence. He told his crew that everyone else was going to feel bad after he came from the back of the pack to win the race.
