Fumes

Monday

Nov212011

Monday, November 21, 2011 at 03:22PM

November 23, 2011

The "wheelman" comes through.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 11/21, 3:30 p.m.) Detroit. It may have been the race of Tony Stewart's life. Check that, it was the race of Tony Stewart's life. Cocky and confident all week after getting smoking hot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, Stewart told everyone he was coming to Homestead Miami Speedway to take the win and the Sprint Cup Championship trophy - his third - in that order. And he did exactly that, and in spectacular fashion as well.

Driving his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Office Depot Mobil-1 Chevrolet from the back of the field twice, Stewart turned in a stunning drive that will go down as one of the greatest the sport has ever seen. Going three and four cars wide to make passes, Stewart looked like the Tony Stewart we've all come to appreciate over the years: confident, aggressive and blistering fast.

He finished tied for the championship with second-place finisher Carl Edwards, who put his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Aflac Ford on the pole and kept it in the hunt all afternoon and through the evening rain delay - leading a race-high 119 of the 267 laps - but Stewart won the Sprint Cup via the tiebreaker, finishing the season with five wins, all of them coming during the ten-race Chase.

“I feel like I passed half the state of Florida—118 cars is a lot of cars to pass in one race," he told the media afterward. "To do it under the circumstances and pressure we had, I’m very, very proud of that. I can’t even remember how many races I’ve won, but I would have to say under this set of circumstances I’ve got to believe this is one of the greatest races of my career.”

Classy in defeat, Edwards had this to say after the race: “This night is about Tony Stewart. Those guys rose to the occasion, and they beat us fair and square,” Edwards said. “That is all I had. We came here and sat on the pole, led the most laps and Tony still managed. That’s it. That’s all I got at the end. That’s as hard as I can drive. I told my wife, `If I can’t win this thing, I’m going to be the best loser NASCAR has ever had.’ So, I’m going to try really hard to keep my head up and know that we’ll just go next year and we’ll be just as hard to beat.”

Stewart is now the first owner/driver to win the championship since the late Alan Kulwicki did it in 1992. Stewart also book-ended Jimmie Johnson's five championships, winning his last in 2005, the year before Johnson went on his historic tear.

It also had to be exceedingly sweet for co-owner Gene Haas, who sold half his team to Stewart in 2008 after struggling to stay in the top 35 in points. Haas told the AP, “Tony Stewart’s a superstar, we knew that,” Haas said. “You need a wheelman. You can have all the best equipment in the world, and without a wheelman, you don’t have a whole lot.”

Stewart is indeed a "wheelman" in the classic sense, and for my money he'll go down as one of the greatest American racing drivers in history.

Congratulations to Tony, crew chief Darian Grubb, and the entire Stewart-Hass Racing organization.

(Autostock 2011 - Russell LaBounty, courtesy of Ford Racing)
No, not the Sprint Cup trophy, but Tony Stewart accepts the Ford 400 winners trophy from Tim Duerr of Ford Racing in victory lane at Homestead Miami Speedway.

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Ontario, California, 1971. A.J. Foyt after winning the 1971 Miller High Life 500 NASCAR race at the Ontario Motor Speedway in his Wood Brothers-prepared Mercury Cyclone. Foyt, one of the most versatile racers of all time and one of the greatest drivers this country has ever produced, was a boyhood idol of Tony Stewart. The No. 14 on Stewart's car is no coincidence either. He asked A.J. if he could use the racing legend's number in NASCAR. The AP quoted A.J. as saying after Sunday's NASCAR finale that, “I think Tony drove the best race of his life.” The compliment nearly brought Stewart to tears. “Not many people can hear your lifelong hero say that. Just really, really flattering,” said Stewart. You can watch that '71 NASCAR race at Ontario Motor Speedway here in a 10-minute video highlight clip.

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.