Tony Stewart’s Walk-Off Championship Top Moment Of 2011
| December 9, 2011 
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The 2011 NASCAR season was full of memorable as well as historic moments. That makes the fact that Tony Stewart’s championship-clinching victory at the final race in The Chase and season at Homestead-Miami Speedway being voted Top Moment of 2011 another big win for Stewart.
Members at NASCARMedia.com participated in a week long poll where they cast their votes for what they thought was the top moment in the NASCAR 2011 season. While Stewart’s walk off championship win to captured his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship topped the voting, it wasn’t a walk off win in the voting for the Top Moment of 2011. Rookie Trevor Bayne’s historic Daytona 500 win came in a very close second in the voting.
Below are the Top 5 moments of the 2011 NASCAR Season as voted on by the members of NASCARMedia.com.
#1 – Tony Stewart’s Championship Clinching Ford 400 Win At Miami-Homestead
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Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards headed into the 10th race of NASCAR’s “playoffs” know as The Chase being the only two drivers that could win the Sprint Cup Championship. Through the last five races of the season, the two had been engaging in some friendly “smack-talk” as they were emerging as the contenders that would race for the championship. Heading into the Ford 400, Tony trailed Carl by three points in the standings. Carl did everything he could to make the task of erasing those three points difficult including qualifying to start the race from the pole. Tony’s day at Homestead-Miami was far from smooth. He moved back and forth through the field as the race unwound while he fixed some front end damage to his Chevrolet. In the end, it happened as both drivers had predicted. It came down to the final lap of the race (as both drivers had predicted prior to the race) as Tony lead and Carl pursued him from second place. When the checkered flag flew, Tony was 1.306 seconds ahead of Carl to win the race. That put him in a points tie with Carl for the season with Stewart holding Sprint Cup Championship tie-breaker of having 5 wins while Carl had only 1 in the 2011 season.
#2 – Trevor Bayne’s Historic Daytona 500 Win
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No matter what point of your career you are in, winning the Daytona 500 is a big accomplishment. Known as the Great American Race, it’s arguably the single biggest race of the NASCAR season. Overall race wins and Championships seem to pale to winning this race, and it’s not an easy one to capture. To put it in perspective, the late NASCAR Legend and 7-time Champion Dale Earnhardt competed in the race 20 times before he won the Daytona 500 at the age of 46. Trevor Bayne was making only his second Sprint Cup start in his first ever Daytona 500 one day after turning 20-years-old. Bayne started the race from the 32nd position in a race that had a record 74 lead changes. He drove his car to the front with just six laps to go and held the lead to become the youngest driver to to ever win the Daytona 500.
#3 – Brad Keselowski’s Wreckers-to-Checkers Win at Pocono
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If playing hurt is a measure of a professional athlete, Brad Keselowski is indeed a true pro. Just days before driving in the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway, Brad broke his ankle when he wrecked while doing a road course test. Heading into the Sprint Cup race, he was 21st in points and the only talk involving him was how difficult it would be for him to just complete the 500 mile race with his injury. Not only did he complete it, he finished ahead of the other 42 drivers to get his second win of the 2011 NASCAR season. Kesleowski followed that gutty performance finishing in the top three in the next three races and then winning at Bristol to capture one of the wild card spots in The Chase. Brad captured fifth place in the final 2011 Sprint Cup points standings.
#4 – Jeff Gordon’s 85th Career Sprint Cup Win
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Jeff Gordon has won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship four times. The former championship driver hadn’t won more than one race in a single season since 2007. Jeff broke a 66-race-winless-streak at Phoenix International Raceway in February of this season and picked up another victory at Pocono Raceway in June. However, it was his third win in 2011 that was historic. The AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September was delayed due to rain on the scheduled Sunday date. When the race was run on Monday, Gordon captured his 85th career win. That win moved him into sole possession of the third spot on NASCAR’s All Time Most Sprint Cup Winners list.
#5 – Regan Smith’s Southern 500 Win
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Trevor Bayne’s first ever Sprint Cup win at Daytona in February was mirrored by Regan Smith in May. Regan headed into the Darlington Raceway’s SHOWTIME Southern 500 (NASCAR’s oldest “crown jewel” race) with a less than stellar career record. Not only had he not managed to win a Sprint Cup race, Regan didn’t have a top five or even top ten finish in 104 starts in NASCAR’s top racing division. Regan drove his way to the front and lead the final 11 laps at Darlington beating the the eventual 2011 Sprint Cup Championship runner-up Carl Edwards across the finish line by 0.196 seconds to give his Furniture Row Racing team it’s first ever Sprint Cup victory as well.
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