A Tale of Two Could Have Been Champions: Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards

The past two Sprint Cup Series seasons the driver entering the finale in Homestead-Miami as the championship point leader, as well as fan and driver favorite, left that Sunday night empty handed.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]In 2009 Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin won at Homestead and said his team would be champions in the near future. His statement led pundits to declare that the No. 11 FedEx team were the favorites to dethrone Jimmie Johnson in 2010.

Hamlin backed it up by going out and winning eight races – with a bum knee to boot. With two races left in the season he led Johnson by what seemed to be a comfortable 33-point lead. But following Phoenix it had shrunk to 15 when a fuel mileage race didn’t go his way.

The following week in Homestead Johnson went on to do what he does best, winning championships, while Hamlin struggled to run in the top 10.

Said Hamlin at the end of last year, “There was a lot of circumstances in which we had an opportunity to win the championship. By the numbers, fuel mileage was one contributor, factor. But it’s a part of racing. Strategy is part of racing. It’s not just about the fastest car and best driver. There’s a whole lot that goes into this sport and that’s what makes it as good as it is. We’ll just keep fighting and get ’em next year.”

Next year though would belong to winner of that race, who is often overshadowed at the time by the crowning of the season champion. Carl Edwards won Homestead in the midst of Hamlin and Johnson’s championship fight.

The strong end to the season by No. 99 Aflac team put them in the position previously held by Hamlin: preseason favorite. Edwards and his Roush Fenway Racing team came into 2011 as the newest man tabbed to end Johnson’s reign. He didn’t win eight races like Hamlin, his lone victory came at Las Vegas in early March, but he did set the series ablaze with impressive statistics that put him in a good championship position.

And then came Homestead.

Just like Hamlin did a year before, Edwards entered with the point lead and what some saw as an edge against his competitor. Except just like Hamlin, he too left without the big trophy.

Both drivers put up their best efforts; both won the previous season’s race, both entered with the point lead. And both lost the championship.

In 2010 Johnson finished second and won his fifth title by 39 points over Hamlin who finished 14th. Ironically a year later Edwards would also finish second, but unfortunately did so to Tony Stewart who bested him in the race and the championship.

It couldn’t be more heartbreaking for either driver. Hamlin was perhaps the best driver in 2010’s Chase – not season but Chase when he rose to the occasion – only to be another driver to fall to Johnson. Johnson being a driver who never seemed to have the bad luck bug, was always in the right place at the right time and may have had some golden horseshoes according to the competition.

Instead the bug found Hamlin and followed him from Phoenix to bite him again at Homestead where he qualified 37th, spun early and damaged his front splitter, never led a lap and watched the title slip away.

Johnson qualified sixth, led one lap then never left the top five for the rest of the day. This time around it looked like Edwards was going to do the same thing, as he too was the Chase – and seasons – best driver (Edwards had a 4.9 average in the Chase). He qualified on the pole and led the most laps, 119 of 267 as Stewart looked like he was about to take the role of 2010 Hamlin but in the end pulled a Johnson by coming from behind.

Qualifying 15th, Stewart encountered problems early when it’s suspected that Kurt Busch’s transmission was responsible for putting a hole in his front grille. To the back of the field he went after repairs. But he wasn’t about to follow in Hamlin’s footsteps of getting close enough to touch the title but not hold it.

Twice Stewart went to the back of the field and twice he drove his way to the front. He won the race and his third championship. The only driver who does and will possess a Winston Cup, Nextel Cup and Sprint Cup Series championship.

The script for the past two seasons couldn’t have been written any better. The season finale crowned a champion who didn’t come in as the favorite or with a known edge. They didn’t even have the point lead. It provided dramatic racing for those involved and high anxiety levels for those watching.

Of course both seasons also had fantastic trash talking. Before the 2010 finale Johnson did his best to get in Hamlin’s head. Talking about the pressure Hamlin was under as the point leader, that he (Johnson) had more experience handling adversity, that Hamlin should be concerned about his small advantage. Along with anything else Johnson could throw his way.

It appeared to have worked, Hamlin seemed visibly nervous. Something Johnson and Kevin Harvick called him out on. Then during the race Hamlin reminded himself and his team to take deep breaths. Meanwhile Johnson was in full on champion mode.

Flash forward to Edwards and Stewart. Edwards maintained a strict business as usual policy and tried not to make any visible reaction to Stewart who went about jabbing at him every chance he got.

He talked about “been there, done that” in terms of winning championships. He told Edwards he could come visit his championship trophy when they arrived in Las Vegas for the banquet. He also made sure that everyone knew he would wreck his own mother, and theirs, for a championship.

Even when Stewart was running in the back of the field he never stopped talking. Edwards was going to feel really bad when the No. 14 Office Depot / Mobile 1 team beat them twice from the back, said Stewart. It left Edwards at a loss for words before and after the race, in disbelief that he came so far and lost it when it was in his grasp.

“I’m not going to rip the door off my motorhome or freak out or anything,” said Edwards. “I’m going to go hang out with my family and we’ll go to the beach tomorrow and go celebrate Ricky [Stenhouse Jr., Nationwide teammate] championship … My true feeling right now, my gut feeling in my heart, is that I’m obviously disappointed we didn’t win. That would have been a spectacular result. But I’m very proud, some of the best races I’ve run in my life, were this Chase … If I look back on this Chase, there’s not one thing that I say ‘man, I wish I’d done this or I wish I’d have done that.’ This whole season has gone very well. I’m truly proud of this season. But it’s over.”

As for what’s next, time will tell if Edwards follows Hamlin again. After his squandered championship opportunity Hamlin came out of the gate struggling in 2011 and was never able to right the ship. Only enjoying victory lane once this season as he finished ninth in points.

The team struggled with their equipment, Hamlin calling for engines to stop coming from JGR for those from Toyota Racing Development. He has even openly admitted that his confidence wasn’t what it once was.

Confidence wasn’t a problem for Edwards 2011 but says it will be important for he and his team to head to the off-season holding heads held high. They need to use it as fuel to work harder for another title run next year. They don’t want to become the second straight driver to suffer a post- championship attempt hangover. Edwards says though that 2011 won’t affect his 2012.

For as Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow.”