Tony Stewart called it in Victory Lane. This was indeed the best NASCAR Sprint Cup battle in history.
Qualifying
Chase leader Carl Edwards won in Homestead two of the last three years and he served notice right away that he wasn't going to give up the 2011 Championship easily. Carl put his Roush-Fenway Ford on the pole giving him the early edge in his Chase duel with Tony Stewart. Stewart qualified in the middle of the pack. Tony started fifteenth.
The rest of the top five starters were Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, and Brad Keselowski.
Drop Of The Green
Carl Edwards didn't waste any time. Carl lead the first lap while Tony Stewart went three wide on the bottom to pick up a couple of positions. At the completion of lap one Edwards' lead was 19 points over Stewart because of their relative qualifying positions.
Edwards continued to lead until rain halted the proceedings on lap 14.
During this caution Tony Stewart had to make a second pit stop to repair a softball-sized hole in the grill. The crew was able to repair the damage but Tony was deep in the pack. After battling his way into the top ten Stewart had to restart 40th.
This race had the early feeling of 2010 when Denny Hamlin had nothing but problems while Jimmie Johnson ran up front all day to claim the Championship. Were Stewart's dreams going the way of Hamlin's 2010 title hopes?
Storylines
A second caution for rain shortly before the halfway point lead to a one hour and fifteen minute rain delay. This gave teams a chance to discuss changes and strategy in detail while the track dried and the sun set. When the race finally resumed Tony Stewart's drive through the field was complete. He restarted fourth while Edwards was third.
Stewart blasted to second and then passed Jeff Gordon for the lead and a bonus point. 124 laps into the race Tony Stewart had the lead in the Championship battle. Carl Edwards was running third, one point behind. A Few laps later Edwards passed Gordon and found himself tied in points. In case of a tie Tony Stewart would win the tiebreaker because he has more wins in 2011.
Tony's crew had trouble on back-to-back pit stops shortly after the halfway point. This set Tony back a little but there were still more than 100 laps to go.
Our two championship leaders clearly had the best cars. Hopefully they would be able to race each other for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup title.
Chasing The Checkers
The leaders hit pit road with 65 laps to go. That is, Carl Edwards hit pit road. Stewart on the other hand stayed out to try to make it to the end on one more pit stop. This was a bold pit strategy to make a play for the win. If it pays off they win the Cup. Otherwise Tony was giving up a lot of track position to Carl.
After Tony Stewart pitted the caution flew for rain once again. Edwards was leading and Stewart was fifteenth. When everyone else pitted under caution Tony Stewart found himself in front of Edwards. Stewart was fourth, Edwards sixth, until a late caution stop by A.J. Allmendinger moved them each up one position.
The green flag flew once again with 37 laps remaining. At this point the race had already been everything that NASCAR fans could have possibly wanted. The two best cars were racing for the win. Whoever gets the win is the Sprint Cup Champion.
When the green flag flew again Edwards went three-wide on the bottom into turn one and made the pass work on two of the most aggressive guys on the track. Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski were racing hard but had nothing for Stewart on the restart.
A few laps later Edwards made the pass for second. The two Championship leaders were going to settle it between themselves.
Stewart had a 1.3 second lead with 25 laps to go. Every lap saw a tenth of a second more, a tenth of a second less, but the lead was remaining basically steady and the points were still tied.
Edwards picked up a few tenths in traffic to close within one second but Stewart was able to stretch it back out to 1.3 seconds again as the race remained green all the way to the checkers.
Top Ten
- Tony Stewart
- Carl Edwards
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Matt Kenseth
- Jeff Gordon
- Clint Bowyer
- Kasey Kahne
- Kevin Harvick
- Denny Hamlin
- Jeff Burton
The Points
Wow, this was the best NASCAR Sprint Cup battle ever. The two point leaders were battling first and second in the closing laps where the winner of the race would win the Cup.
Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards ended the season tied in points but Tony Stewart will be awarded the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup because he won more races in 2011 than Edwards.
This is Tony's third Championship. the first time ever that the Championship ended with a tie in the points.
The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings:
- Tony Stewart
- Carl Edwards -0
- Kevin Harvick -58
- Matt Kenseth -73
- Brad Keselowski -84
- Jimmie Johnson -99
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -113
- Jeff Gordon -116
- Denny Hamlin -119
- Ryan Newman -119
- Kurt Busch -141
- Kyle Busch -157
