# Tony Stewart wins 2011 Sprint Cup



## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

From Fox Sports:



> Tony Stewart nearly wrote off his season during a summer slump, then dismissed his chances at the beginning of NASCAR's championship chase.
> 
> Stewart thrust himself early into title contention, then never let up as he drove all over the competition and chased down Carl Edwards. He seized his third championship Sunday night with a powerful and relentless drive that will go down with the greatest in NASCAR history.
> 
> He won at Homestead-Miami Speedway, holding off Edwards for a tie in the final Sprint Cup Series standings - good enough to win the title based on his five victories. All of Stewart's wins came in the Chase, and Edwards' lone victory this season was in March. It was the first tie in the points standings in NASCAR history.


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I've never seen anything like what I saw last night.

Let me tell you where I'm coming from. I started following NASCAR as a kid in the 1970s - and that wasn't easy living in places like New York City, Boston and southern New Hampshire. I rooted for guys like Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough and anyone not named Richard Petty (he was too good so I didn't like him - kind of like hating the Yankees these days).

I could never follow the sport the way I wanted to and didn't pay a lot of attention to it in the '80s but always kept an eye on things. In the 90s I was able to follow it again and I was hooked. Didn't have a particular favorite until Memorial Day weekend 1999 when Tony Stewart finished in the top-10 of both the Indy 500 and the Coca Cola 600 on the same day. From that moment on, I was a Tony Stewart fan.

I avidly watched every race my BUD (Big Ugly Dish) and later my Dishplayer could get and was ecstatically happy for Tony's 2 championships in 2002 and 2005.

But over the years, lately, my interest waned. Maybe it was partially because there were no champions allowed that weren't named Jimmie Johnson (nothing against him - it just got boring seeing the same results over and over again). Part of it was NASCAR's neutering rules which finally started to go away. Part of it was the enforced parity and the cars being too look-alike, as though they were taking a page out of the IROC book.

This year, though, different things happened. Trevor Bayne winning the '500??? A no-name team from DENVER winning at DARLINGTON??? Sure, my guy blew a race or two but he was up there in the points. But by August it wasn't looking good.

Then Chicago happened. Then New Hampshire happened. Unfortunately, by now, my life has taken turns that meant I'm not always there watching the races. Then Dover happened and it felt like "it was fun while it lasted". Then Martinsville and Texas.. 4 wins in 8 races????

Every time there's been a 'duel' in the points standings before, you've always had the two mostly separated on the track. But not this time. This time, the two top guns were fighting each other side by side and in each other's tire tracks for entire races.

Homestead was just unreal. You thought it was over when it barely started with a huge gaping hole in Tony's grill. They restarted 40th and worked their way up to the top 15. Then more repairs and they're in the 30s again. Later on a lug gets caught in an impact wrench and 8 more spots are lost on pit road. A risky fuel-mileage strategy at the end with the rain holding off just long enough for it to be ok. Someone calculated that he passed 118 cars over the course of the race.. Just unbelievable.

To have it come down to a 1-2 duel between the #1 and #2 guys in the points - with the only way #2 could win was to beat #1 and vice versa... A *tie* after 36 races with the tiebreaker going to the guy with the most wins (Stewart).

And could someone lose with more grace and dignity than Carl Edwards? Somehow, calling him a 'gracious loser' seems insulting. (I particularly liked his line that he was going to be the best loser in NASCAR history)

You can't SCRIPT a more exciting ending. This is exactly what Mike Helton was talking about when he said that he hoped the Chase format would provide more "Game 7 drama" in racing.

For one night, I was forgetting all about NASCAR's other problems. Heck, my daughter was even there with me.

It was a good night.


----------



## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

djlong said:


> This is exactly what Mike Helton was talking about when he said that he hoped the Chase format would provide more "Game 7 drama" in racing.


Which is why I think they should make it 12 race and reset the top 6 again after the 6th race. Kind of like you make then playoffs, them have to win to move the next round.


----------



## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

The race yesterday (and the whole Chase) has been awesome this year. I kept hoping against hope that someone would NOT accidently take out one of the 2 leaders - to see it come down to who won the race would win the championship was simply awesome.

And yes - that was one classy thing Carl did. I would hope Tony would have been as gracious in defeat.


----------



## clueless (Dec 6, 2004)

1992 was similar. Bill Elliott, Davey Allison and eventual champ Alan Kulwicki were separated by 40 points going into the final race in Atlanta.

Allison was taken out by a wreck. Elliott won the race and Kulwicki finished second. But Kulwicki won the championship because he got 5 bonus points for leading the most laps (he led one more lap than Elliott). 

Kulwicki was the last owner/driver to win a championship until Stewart. 

Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash the following year.


----------



## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

clueless said:


> 1992 was similar. Bill Elliott, Davey Allison and eventual champ Alan Kulwicki
> 
> Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash the following year.


And 3 months after that, Allison was killed in a helicopter crash. You have to wonder if Bill Elliott was getting nervous.

Had Davey and Alan lived, Jeff Gordon would not have 4 Championships and Earnhardt might not have 7.


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

One other thing I thought of...

Even though NASCAR does some "1984 Newspeak" with their history book (they'll actually call Lee Petty the 1948 Sprint Cup champion), Tony Stewart has something that nobody else has.

A Winston Cup trophy.
A Nextel Cup trophy.
A Sprint Cup trophy.

NOBODY else can do that. No Winston Cup winner can win a Nextel Cup. The Nextel Cup winners were Tony Stewart (2005), Kurt Busch (2004) and Jimmie Johnson (2006, 2007). Now Tony and Jimmie are the only Sprint Cup winners so far.


----------



## la24philly (Mar 9, 2010)

Was a very good race, and finish obviously. Nice to see tony owner / driver win a title.

Not to take away from jimmy, but nice to see somone else win.


----------



## clueless (Dec 6, 2004)

djlong said:


> One other thing I thought of...
> 
> Even though NASCAR does some "1984 Newspeak" with their history book (they'll actually call Lee Petty the 1948 Sprint Cup champion), Tony Stewart has something that nobody else has.
> 
> ...


Didn't he win an IRL Championship as well??


----------



## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

clueless said:


> Didn't he win an IRL Championship as well??


1997


----------

