Chase set up for winner-take-all finish
Carl Edwards (right) talks with team co-owner Jack Roush. Edwards says he signed a multiyear contract to continue driving for Roush Fenway Racing.
Feb 10, 2012
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Three points has never seemed larger.
Carl Edwards leads the Sprint Cup championship standings by that razor-thin margin heading into Sunday's season-ending and championship-deciding Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
To show just how close that is, it's the difference between finishing first and fourth in any of the previous 35 races this season.
Had Tony Stewart been able to finish three spots higher in any race this season, we'd have a dead heat battle with Edwards going into Sunday's race.
Nevertheless, NASCAR still will very likely see one of the closest finishes for a championship if Edwards and Stewart battle all the way to the checkered flag on Sunday.
If the success both drivers have had in the last three races – including Stewart winning two of those three, and Edwards literally right on his tail – continues, there's a good possibility that the deciding factor between the only two drivers left in contention for the title could come down to the last lap.
In other words, we quite possibly may see a winner-take-all finish, the first time since 1998 (Jeff Gordon) that a driver had to win the season finale to also win the Cup championship.
While Stewart has two Cup championships already (2002 and 2005), Edwards is going for his first Cup title. He knows what it takes to be a champion, having earned the Nationwide Series championship in 2007, not to mention finishing second in that series in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (and third in 2005).
But just because Stewart has two prior championships doesn't rattle Edwards at all.
"I don't know any part of that trophy that makes a car faster this Sunday," Edwards said. "To me it's about going out and performing this Sunday. We'll just see what happens.
"When this thing is over … whoever wins, the other guy is going to be the first one to go up and shake his hand and say, 'Good job.' That doesn't mean we're happy about it. But we're going to see what happens on Sunday."
Edwards has come close before to earning a Cup crown, finishing second in 2008 behind Jimmie Johnson, and third in 2005 behind Stewart. But this is the first time he's entered the final race of the season in first place and trying to protect that edge for one more race.
"I think both of us realize we just watched five years go by since anyone else has won a championship," Edwards said. "In 2005, it slipped through my fingers. I thought, No big deal, we'll just do it next year. Then I realize, man, it's a lot tougher than that. 2008, I think I held on a little too tightly, maybe was a little too aggressive. But I felt like 2009 was going to be our year again (and he ultimately finished a disappointing 11th)."
Edwards has won just once this season, at Las Vegas in the third race of the year. By comparison, Stewart has won four of the first nine races in the Chase.
But Edwards could potentially have a slight edge over Stewart nonetheless. Borrowing a few pages from the playbook Jimmie Johnson used to win the last five Sprint Cup titles, not to mention the way teammate Matt Kenseth won the last pre-Chase title in 2003, Edwards has been Mr. Consistency during the Chase.
He has six top-5 finishes in the first nine Chase races, and has finished no lower than 11th in that same period of time. Although he has five top-5 finishes, Stewart also has two finishes outside the top-10, but those four Chase wins give him the edge in terms of confidence.
"It's pretty neat to go out there and push each other to raise our level of performance," Edwards said. "It's been pretty interesting how it's worked out. We've both been very fast the last couple of races, being able to race one another, race for the wins. That's as good as it gets.
"I think Tony said it best after Texas (two weeks ago). He said, 'This is what it's about. It feels like a battle at your Saturday night dirt track.' These are the kind of points battles that I grew up watching. It's kind of neat to be a part of it."
Denny Hamlin had a chance to win the championship last season, but his nerves got the better of him in the season finale, costing him his first Cup title. Edwards saw first-hand what happened to Hamlin last season and is not going to let the same thing happen to him.
"I don't really have any nerves," Edwards said. "We've been running well, earned our spot at the top of the standings. I'm excited to have this opportunity to go out and win this championship. We couldn't feel better about the racetrack. We feel really good about the race."
Edwards proved that Saturday in qualifying, earning the pole for Sunday's race. Stewart qualified 15th, but that could be by design, letting the race come to him instead of chasing Edwards, per se.
"Things are good," Edwards said. "That truly is just one lap, though. The biggest thing is that pit stall selection. That's going to be important the whole race. It's something you can't put a value on.
"I don't know if I believe in fate, but I do believe things happen for a reason. Success and failure can both be good in the end, so you have to be careful what you wish for. Hopefully, this helps us for the entire event."
To that, Stewart responded, "I'm not known for being much of a qualifier, so 15th, I'm content with it."
While Stewart has taken a more aggressive lead in trash-talking between the two, Edwards has been a bit more reserved. Sure, he's gotten into the mix a few times this week, slinging good-natured barbs in Stewart's direction, but for the most part is more concerned about winning the race rather than the trash talk battle.
It doesn't hurt that Edwards has won two of the last three season finales at Homestead, too.
"I've stood there in Victory Lane two out of the last three years and watched Jimmie (Johnson) celebrate and imagined what it would be like to be the champion," Edwards said. "That would be spectacular."
Stewart realizes that Edwards is hungry for his first Cup title. And despite some of the dust ups Edwards has had in the past with other drivers, most notably Brad Keselowski, Stewart has a strong respect for Edwards and believes he'll race him clean.
"I don't think the Chase has changed my level of respect for him," Stewart said. "I've always respected him as a driver and a person. So the fact that you're racing around him doesn't change that because that's what you do every week.
"I don't know that we've really learned anything about each other than the fact that we both know we have to be on our game. We've forced each other to take what would be a good day and you have to make it great to succeed. … We're keeping each other honest, in my opinion. It's fun to have a championship race like that."
The biggest challenge for both drivers is not finding trouble – or letting it find them. Johnson did an outstanding job of avoiding trouble in each of the season-ending races en route to his five straight championships, and both Stewart and Edwards hope they have similar good fortune.
"We've still got to go run this race," Edwards said. "We know how tough those guys can be. But truly, we still have to run this race and anything can happen. Whatever has been said up to now doesn't really matter. The only thing that matters is who finishes ahead of the other.
"To me it would be the coolest thing in the world if we drove into turn three side-by-side, battled through the corner, one of us won by a bumper. It would just be better if I won. It would be good if it came down to that. To me I could not be personally more proud of winning a championship that way. That's something you dream about. Like I said, I think it could come down to that. I think that's just neat as can be."
NOTES: All of NASCAR's past and present bad boys – Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick, among them – best be on their best behavior Sunday. Homestead-Miami Speedway will be on somewhat of a security lockdown as First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice-President Joe Biden, serve as co-grand marshals for the race. Secret Service officials are advising race attendees to leave early because of the various heightened security measures that will be in place, particularly in the infield. … Sunday's weather forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of scattered showers, with temperatures expected in the low-80s. … Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will be honored Monday for their Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series, respectively, titles at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel.
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RE: Chase set up for winner-take-all finish
rossfranco: Don't be hatin' on Kyle Busch when Harvick gets away with it every race unless he takes himself out. You've proven who the most talented driver is.Most popular = no skills ... Most hated = Best driver ever!!!
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