Tony Stewart Wins The Ford 400 And Sprint Cup Championship

It came down to one race and two drivers for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. At the end of the Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Tony Stewart earned the race win and the Sprint Cup Championship.

Heading into race number 10 of The Chase to the Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s final race of the 2011 season had become a true Championship Race. Only two drivers had a chance to win the 2011 Championship. Carl Edwards headed into the race with a 3 point lead over Tony Stewart. As the two final contenders were ready to race head-to-head, all Carl had to do to win the championship was to finish ahead of Tony in the race. The were several scenarios by which Tony could win the race, thew simplest of which was to just win the race.

Carl started out the weekend intent on doing everything he could to win the championship. He went out and qualified fastest to start the Ford 400 from the pole position. After the green flag dropped, Carl raced around the track for the first lap to claim the bonus point for leading a lap. For most of the early and middle part of the race, Carl lead field around the Homestead-Miami Speedway to lead a race high 119 of the 267 laps. Another bonus point for Carl. It was obvious that Carl was doing everything he could to hold onto the 3 point lead in the points and win his first ever Sprint Cup Championship.

Tony began the race from the 15th position, and didn’t wait to show his intentions of racing to the front. He had began picking off other cars as soon as he passed the start line for the race. Some bad luck set him back quickly however. A hole in the grill of his race car required him to pit twice during an early caution to repair it and gave him a restarting position of 40th. Once again, he would have to work his way to the front to even have a chance at winning the championship. Meanwhile, Carl remained at the front of the field continuing to look as though he would be the car to beat for the race win and the likely winner of the Sprint Cup Championship this year.

Flashback for a moment to a post-race interview following the final regular season race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Tony made the 12 car Chase field without a win. He would start the 10 race NASCAR “Playoffs” as the 9th seed. Tony made the comment that with the year they had, they didn’t really belong in The Chase.

One week later, the #14 team won the first race of The Chase in Chicago. Tony and his team followed that win up with victory in race number two of The Chase in New Hampshire. Over the next four races in The Chase, Tony stumbled a little but kept within striking distance of points leader Carl Edwards.

Tony and his #14 Chevrolet Office Depot/Mobil 1 kept their focus on the goal and came back to win Chase race #7 at Martinsville to climb up to second place in the points. In the post race interview, Tony made the now infamous statement that, “Carl Edwards had better be real worried. That’s all I’ve got to say. He’s not going to sleep for the next three weeks.” Tony delivered on the statement by winning Chase race #8 at Texas. Race #9 in the Chase at Phoenix had Carl taking second place and Tony finishing right behind him in third to set up the head-to-head battle for the championship.

Now back to the final race on the Chase at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Following what would be the final caution period of the race, Tony Stewart passes Brad Keselowski to lead the Ford 400 with 36 laps to go. Carl Edwards is in third at this point. with 34 laps left, Carl passes Brad for second and sets his sights on race leader Tony Stewart.

At this point in the race the scenario is no longer complicated for the Championship. If Tony hangs on to win the race, he is the champion. If Carl can drive up and pass Tony for the race win, Carl is the champion. Both drivers spend the next 33 laps drive their cars for all they have. At times, Carl closed the gap on Tony, but the #14 Chevrolet was just enough better than the #99 Ford to hang on to win the Ford 400 by about a second. See the complete race results here.

With the win, Tony and Carl wind up in a tie in the points at 2,403 points each. See the complete Sprint Cup Points Standings here. By NASCAR rule, since there was a tie at number one in points following the final race, the championship is decided by the tie breaker, race wins.

Tony ended the year with 5 wins to Carl’s 1 win and therefore, Tony Stewart captured his 3rd NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. This is his first championship as a driver-owner at Stewart-Haas Racing. Tony is the first owner-driver to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship since Alan Kulwicki accomplished it in 1992.

On a personal note, in my opinion, this was the most exciting Chase in the sever year history of the format of the “playoffs” created by NASCAR. In fact, this was one of the most exciting Championship battles of all time in NASCAR. Both Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards should be very proud of their accomplishments this year.

Congratulations to Tony Stewart, Stewart-Hass Racing and the entire #14 Chevrolet Office Depot/Mobil 1 team for winning the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship!