With “Walk-Off Win,” Stewart Takes Third Title At Homestead
[media-credit name=”Credit: By Chris Graythen, Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 20, 2011) – Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Tony Stewart went from all-time great to legend, capturing his third career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in grand fashion – a number that places him among a short list of historic NASCAR figures.
With a victory in Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Stewart became the seventh champion to win the season finale in his championship season. He out-dueled runner-up Carl Edwards in a finale befitting a championship showdown, tying Edwards in points – but winning the championship on a tiebreaker. Stewart’s five wins bested Edwards’ one, clinching the title for Stewart.
Stewart won his first championship in 2002 and second in 2005. The Indiana native now joins David Pearson, Lee Petty, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough – all NASCAR Hall of Fame members or inductees – as three-time champions. Nine drivers in NASCAR Sprint Cup history have won three or more championships.
Stewart entered the season-ending race trailing Edwards by three points. It marked the second consecutive season and fourth time since the inception of the position-based points system in 1975 the champion has overcome a points deficit entering the final race.
Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing with Gene Haas, is the first driver-owner to claim the championship since Alan Kulwicki in 1992. The 2011 season is the organization’s third under its current ownership.
Stewart failed to win a race during the 26-race regular season. But he quickly caught fire, winning the first two races of the Chase, at Chicagoland Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He ultimately won five times – twice on consecutive weekends – to break the record for most Chase wins in a single season. Stewart has won 11 times in Chase history, second only to Jimmie Johnson’s 20.
Entering Sunday’s season finale, Stewart had led the points just twice in 2011, ironically after Edwards’ only victory in Las Vegas and following the fall race at New Hampshire. He finished the year with 44 career victories, tied for 15th on the all-time wins list.
Those wins wound up trumping Edwards’ consistency during both the regular season and the playoffs. Stewart’s nine top-five and 19 top-10 finishes trailed Edwards, however, the series-high five wins ultimately were the decisive factor in the championship’s outcome.
For more information, contact:
Mike Forde, NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications, (386) 310-6056 or mforde@nascar.com.
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the use of the person(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient, any review, dissemination, distribution or duplication of this communication is strictly prohibited. In addition, please immediately contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of NASCAR. NASCAR will not accept any liability as a result of such communication(s). No employee or agent is authorized to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of NASCAR with another party by e-mail. All agreements must be contained in a separate writing executed with an original non-electronic signature.
