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NASCAR – Smoke Holds Off Edwards For the Race and Championship Win At Miami Homestead Putting Bookends on Johnson’s Reign

November 21, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Tony Stewart celebrates his second win of the chase with his team in Loudon New Hampshire - Image courtesy of JDTImages

The last man to win a championship who was not named Jimmie Johnson was Tony Stewart.  Now Stewart is also the first man to win a Championship in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series since Johnson’s reign of 5 consecutive championships.  Winning an amazing 5 out of 10 chase races and making every lap count, especially the last lap at Homestead Miami Speedway, Tony Stewart proved that he was the one to beat all along.  With the points ending in a tie between Edwards and Stewart, it was the wins that made a difference.  When NASCAR polled their fans to ask them what they wanted to see, the number one answer was for wins to make a bigger difference in the end result.  Well you can’t make wins any more important than they were yesterday.  If either Stewart or Edwards won the Ford 400, they would win the championship, regardless of what happened with the other guy.  Stewart won them both, while Edwards finished second in both the race, and the championship.

“We said all week, we just go out and win the race, we didn’t have to worry about what he did — and that’s what we did,” Stewart said in Victory Lane, as the skies opened up once again. “If this doesn’t go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don’t know what will.”

Stewart had been relentless with his trash talk for the last 3 weeks, giving Edwards as much to think about as he could, but he was courteous in the end as he spoke about his competitor in Victory Lane.

“Great guy, and we’ve been giving him a rough time this week, but it was all in an effort to do what we did and that’s to win this championship,” Stewart said. “But it shows how classy a guy he is. He was the first one to me over there [to offer congratulations], and he just said, ‘Promise me one thing: You’ll enjoy this, and I hope you and I are in this position again next year.’

“So much class. A great guy.”

Even though Edwards had led the most laps and looked to have the dominant car all day, Stewart overcame his own on track troubles and took the lead with 37 to go, and never looked back.  Edwards, the ever gracious competitor, summed it up with his comments.

Carl Edwards during a Q&A session before the race in Loudon New Hampshire - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“They beat us fair and square,” said Carl.

“That was all I had at the end. My guys did a really good job. We led the most laps, and Tony still managed, him and (crew chief) Darian (Grubb), to do a good job with their strategy.

“That’s all I got at the end. That’s as hard as I can drive.”

“It was just so unbelievable, it’s like a movie,” allowed Edwards, whose runner-up finish was good enough to give NASCAR its first championship tie. . . . but not good enough to overcome the tiebreaker — Stewart’s five wins to Edwards’ one.

“I was very, very impressed with Tony,” Edwards said. “For all the talk and chest-pounding he did, I could see that he was nervous about this, too.”

“They had to perform at a very high level and I honestly thought there was a good chance they would make a mistake, of him overdriving, trying too hard. And they showed a lot of mental toughness to be able to watch us go lead the first half of the race essentially and not panic and not make mistakes.”

“This was a race, and it came down to strategy on the pit stops and restarts and everything it should come down to. I’m not going to lie, I was hoping he’d run out of fuel there at the end. But he didn’t. I’m sure that he’s going to enjoy this championship — and I’m hoping we’re going to be back in this position again next year. I learned a ton.”

“I told my wife, if I can’t win this thing I’ll be the best loser.”

“It was fun. I plan on winning about the next 10 of these. That’s how I feel right now. I’d like to start right now again and do it every day for as long as I live. That’s how much fun it was.”

“I just wanted to make sure that Bob knew that I believe he’s the best crew chief here, and that he will be my crew chief for as long as he wants to be, and that I’m behind him and his decision 100 percent,” Edwards said.

Stewart became the first Owner/Driver to win a championship since Alan Kulwicki did it back in 1992 and joins a very short and elite list, with the only other name on it being Richard Petty.

Struggling through on track issues early in the race, the Stewart-Haas team put their Office Deport Chevy back together and overcame having the front

Tony Stewart during Driver intros at Loudon New Hampshire - Image courtesy of JDTImages

end punched in through the rad, numerous pit road issues, some bad pit stops, and in the end made a fuel mileage gamble that put Stewart in a great position on the final restart of the race.

“One thing I learned about this team is that everybody dug deep and never gave up,” Stewart said. “I’ve got the best team in the business. We said all week we had to go out and win the race; it didn’t matter what he [Edwards] did. After the way those first 109 laps went today, I told my guys it was going to make these guys mad when we come back twice and still kick their butt.”

“Man, I feel like I passed half the state of Florida today — 118 cars is a lot of cars to pass in one race and to do it under the circumstances and pressure we had today, I’m very proud of that,” said Stewart.

“I would have to say this is one of the greatest races of my life.”

A few other back stories that seemed to get lost in the Championship battle were the moving of Kasey Kahne to Hendrick Motorsports, the drastic improvement of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s performance under the tutiledge of Steve Letarte, and the fact that Darian Grubb, Tony Stewart’s crew chief, has no idea where his future lies.

Darian Grubb announced in the media center just before Stewart himself arrived for Q&A, that 10 weeks ago before the race at Chicagoland, he had been told that after the season they would be discussing the direction the team would be taking, and that he may not be included in that direction.  Despite knowing for the past 10 weeks that he may be out of a job, Grubb performed at the top of his game and  gave Stewart everything he needed to win 5 out of the last 10 races, and put the team in championship form.

Kasey Kahne pulled of his first win in a RedBull car with only 2 races left with that team.  Kasey will be moving to Hendrick Motorsports and driving the #5 car replacing out going driver Mark Martin.  Kahne will be sharing a garage with Jeff Gordon and will have the all powerful Hendrick equipment under him as he starts the 2012 season.  Other rumors in the garage around Hendrick is that Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson may be splitting up.  Although only rumor and conjecture at this point, Rick Hendrick did make a ton of significant changes at the end of the 2010 season, which resulted in varying performance improvements in his drivers through out the 2011 season.

The most obvious of those improvements was the performance of Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally making the chase after missing it twice in the seasons before.Jr. looked to b4e a much more confident driver through out 2011, more the man his fans remembered before the tragic loss of Earnhardt Sr. 10 years ago.  With Steve LeTarte being the biggest cheer leader in Jr.’s corner, Jr. looked to be gaining in confidence all season long and although they stumbled early in the chase and fell back to 9th in the standings, he rallied with his team behind him to finish 7th over all, his best placing since coming to drive for Hendrick.  Fans are hoping for more improvements in the seasons to come, especially the breaking of his winless streak sometime in the 2012 season.

Related posts:

NASCAR – The Season is Almost Upon Us. NASCAR – Kenseth Wins Another With Martin Runner Up as Late Race Call Wins The Race NASCAR- David Ragan Finds the Front Row at the Brickyard NASCAR – Stewart Makes it 2 For 2 in Championship Chase and Takes the Points Lead in the Standings NASCAR – Jimmie Johnson Takes the Checkered Flag and Proves He Is Always Relevant in the Chase

NASCAR – Kasey Kahne Breaks his Winless Streak in Phoenix, Edwards and Stewart Will Battle it Out in Miami.

November 14, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

Kasey Kahne - Image courtesy of JDTImages

It took Kasey Kahne 81 starts to get back into the win column, this time for Team RedBull, and there’s only one race left in his career with the team.  RedBull announced earlier this year that they were leaving the NASCAR world of racing in Favour of their Championship winning success in F1.  But none of those things put a damper on Kasey Kahne’s smile as he raised the trophy in Victory lane.  His excitement was palpable as he beamed a smile from ear to ear, as he talked about how proud he was of his team and all the hard work they put in to give him a good car every week,

“We have great cars,” said Kahne, who will leave Red Bull for a  seat in the #5 at Hendrick Motorsports next season. “I feel like each week I’m going to the race track with as good a car as anybody out there, which has been really nice this season.

“We haven’t won in a while [81 starts]. We put the whole race together and then had a little luck. Everything that falls into winning a race, we had it [Sunday].”

“We’re lucky that everybody kept working hard and has stayed after it, preparing great race cars,” Kahne said. “We’re bringing awesome cars to the track.

“I think it’s just the people. They haven’t given up. They’re doing a great job. We’ve been able to stay focused. I love racing. If I’m in a race car, I want to do the best that I can.”

Seeing that smile on his face just shows what we hope to see more of next year as he starts the next phase of his career in the richest organization in NASCAR.  9 championships have been brought under that roof . 1 for Terry Labonte (1996) 4 for Jeff Gordon (1995,1997,1998,2001) and 5 consecutive for Jimmie Johnson (2006-2010) and with the added strength of Kasey Kahne there are sure to be more in the organizations future.

“It takes time to get familiar with things and the people and working together,” Kahne said.

“To win a race at this level, as competitive as everything is right now, for myself — to see how happy all the pit crew guys were, the guys preparing the race cars at Red Bull — it was pretty cool. Makes you feel pretty good to be part of that.””I’m not sure how Brian and those guys go at it, but he’s been a great teammate,” said Kahne.

“Ryan Pemberton has been great to work with. Always has a ton of enthusiasm. They [were] both in Victory Lane after the race congratulating us. They’re right there in all of our debriefs and things. It’s been a lot of fun working with those guys.””Hopefully it’s not their last win,” Kahne said. “I think we’re going to have a shot next week, too. I’m looking forward to Homestead. It feels great to get a win for Red Bull and get a win in the No. 4 car.”

The big picture story of the race was of course the championship race between Edwards and Stewart.  Starting the race 3 points apart Stewart did everything he needed to do to gain points on Edwards but managed to hold on and finish with the same deficit he came in with.

Stewart dominated the race running up front for more laps than anyone else but in the final laps of the race he just did not have enough to catch Edwards, let alone pass him.  Leading for 160 laps gained him the most laps led bonus which negated the 1 spot on the track he gave up to Edwards on the track.  Edwards for his part did what he needed to do.  Both drivers were in the top 5 all day long, both teams stayed on top of the changes the race track went through, and both provided the kind of race between themselves that the fans have been looking for since the beginning of the chase format.  Having only 2 drivers able to win the 2011 championship has brought a new level of excitement to the sport.  Even bigger than one driver winning 5 times in a row.  We have one driver running for his first championship, and the other a former champion trying to book end Jimmie Johnson’s streak with another of his own, after being the last guy to win a championship before the Johnson era.

Tony Stewart - Image courtesy of JDTImages

Stewart appeared poised to win his fifth race in the Chase before the handling on his No. 14 Chevrolet deteriorated slightly in the final 100 laps.

“We just came up two spots shy,” Stewart said. “It was just a little too loose on entry those last two runs there. I thought that Darian [crew chief Darian Grubb] made a really good call there with just gas only at the end and we were able to run Jeff [Burton] down there and get back to third.

“Every point counts right now, and that’s why we raced Carl so hard and Kasey so hard to make sure we led enough laps [160] to lead the most laps [Sunday]. We are going for every single point we can get.”

Stewart said the formula for winning the title is simple.

“Just keep doing what we’re doing,” Stewart said. “We’re going to keep the pressure on him, and we’re going to make him sweat it out.”

Edwards was just as focused and that was obvious  by his comments after the race.

Carl Edwards - Image courtesy of JDTImages

“We couldn’t ask for anything more,” Edwards said. “It’s going to be fun. It’s neat to be able to go to Homestead and race it out. I’m sure these guys [Stewart’s team] are going to be good down there — they’re fast on the mile-and-a-halfs.

“I’m just proud of my guys. They did a great job on pit road. Tony was really fast, and we got our car tuned in, and we were able to go up there and race with them and compete. It was just a good hard-fought day, and I’m really pumped about Homestead.”

 

Related posts:

NASCAR – Kyle Busch Wins From the Pole at Kentucky for His 99th Career Win NASCAR – Kurt Busch Takes the Third Race in the Chase and the Leader Board Sees Big Changes NASCAR- Greg Biffle Takes the Pole And Feels Like He Can Win It NASCAR – With Stewart’s Win at Martinsville is the Chase Down to a Two Man Race? NASCAR – Stewart Takes His Fourth Checkered Flag of the Chase, With 2 Races Left It’s Definitely a Two Man Chase

NASCAR – Jimmie Johnson Goes Where no Driver has Gone Before.

November 22, 2010 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

In the world of professional sports the ultimate goal is to beat all comers for a championship.  The best teams in the world will try to get another chance to repeat the following season.  Few have accomplished more than 3 and fewer still with 4, but winning 5 consecutive championships is a thing of legend no matter what sport you are talking about. In my research I found the Montreal Canadians of 1956-60in the NHL, and the New York Yankees from 1949-1953 in MLB , John Force (15 Consecutive NHRA Drag Championships) in the world of professional sports.  This is the league that Jimmie Johnson now finds himself in.

5 time consecutive NASCAR Champion.  Something no one has ever been able to say before.  Until now.  Jimmie Johnson has become the first driver ever to complete such a monumental task.  As anyone in the racing world will tell you, winning 2 or 3 of these in a lifetime is quite an accomplishment, but winning 5 of them in a row is beyond the biggest of accomplishments.  Throughout the race all of the contenders were shown in the lead at one point or another as they each suffered their own problems and mishaps throughout but it was Chad Knaus’s stoic leadership that held the #48 Lowe’s team together through it all and persevered to recover and grab a second place finish behind Carl Edwards to claim the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

“Jimmie, you are a rock star, my friend,” Chad Knaus radioed to Johnson after he crossed the finished line 1.608 seconds behind Carl Edwards. “You have proven it time and time again. And you damn did it my friend.” [Read more…]

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NASCAR – It’s Hallowdega time for the 6th Chase race Johnson Sets The Bar and Sends a Message to The Other Contenders NASCAR – Bowyer Takes 4th Career Win at the Scareless Talledega Halloween. NASCAR – Denny Hamlin takes the win to tighten up the Championship Chase NASCAR – Keselowski Takes the Nationwide Title. Hamlin Wins and Takes the Points Lead in Sprint Cup

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