NASCAR’s eight-year-old Chase for the Sprint Cup formula finally lived up to its greatest expectations Sunday. Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards wound up tied in points but Stewart claimed the title by virtue of his five race wins to Edwards’ one.
There was also a good measure of off-track drama, including plenty of pre-race banter between the two title contenders and the news that Darian Grubb, the crew chief who made the bold call that put Stewart in position to win Sunday at Homestead, wouldn’t be back in his job next season.
Most veteran observers in the sport attribute Stewart’s surge in the Chase -- he zoomed from ninth in the standings with no wins to champion with five race victories -- to the veteran driver rising to the occasion on and off the track, leading his team and driving as hard as he’s ever driven in his career.
Stewart was never better than at Homestead, where he came back from repairs to the front of his car and a slow pit stop to claim the lead from Edwards and drive away to victory. It was Grubb’s call to stay on the track when the rest of the leaders pitted that put Stewart in position to finish the race without an additional pit stop. It also put him in front of Edwards when rains interrupted the race just after Stewart’s pit stop and Stewart never let Edwards by as both drivers charged hard toward the checkered flag.
“If this doesn't go down as one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don't know what will,” said Stewart. “I would have to say that under the circumstances, I've got to believe that this is definitely one of the greatest races of my life.”
Grubb seconded what many in the garage were saying when he stated that Stewart simply outdrove the competition to the title.
“What he's done driving a race car has been just extremely impressive to me,” he said. “He's been the one to go three‑ and four‑wide, and everyone else is just scared and lifts. I think he went out and earned this championship.”
Grubb said Stewart started driving harder at Atlanta in September.
“He was talking [after Atlanta] about how good we made the car there and he drove from 20th to third,” Grubb said. “We didn't tell him until after the race [that] we didn't make a single change to the car the last three stops, just four tires and go.
“He went out there and did that, drove from 20 to third, and I think that's one of those true moments that we realized that we can do it.”
Grubb also said he was surprised to be told earlier in the year that he wouldn’t be back as Stewart’s crew chief, but that didn’t stop him from putting forth a championship effort.
“I'm not sure what's going to happen,” he said. “But I was told early in the Chase, before Charlotte, that next year I was not going to be here. We just kept fighting and doing everything we had to do every week. It did not change anything, what the outcome was going to be. We fought as if we were going to fight to win this championship and we did it and now we'll just see in this coming week how things change.”
Stewart was somewhat vague when asked if there was a chance Grubb might return to his current job.
“There are a lot of things in the offseason and decisions that have to be made,” he said. “Obviously we wanted to get through this championship battle first and we'll sit down as a group, obviously, this week and figure out the direction of our program.”
Stewart was more definitive in his praise for Edwards, who said he promised himself ahead of time that if he lost, he’d be the best loser NASCAR ever hard.
“He's a great competitor, 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 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.”
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