Gordon leaning toward Edwards but pulling for Stewart

Gordon leaning toward Edwards but pulling for Stewart

 

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

(November 18, 2011)

 

HOMESTEAD, Fla.—In handicapping the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, do you favor the driver with a dominant track record at Homestead-Miami Speedway, or do you go with the guy who’s a four-time winner in the Chase?

 

Do you bet on the driver with a three-point lead or on the driver who has trimmed his deficit to Edwards from 24 to three points over the past four races?

 

That’s a tough call, says Jeff Gordon, a four-time champion in his own right.

 

Carl Edwards won last year’s Ford 400 at Homestead. His organization, Roush Fenway Racing, has won six of the seven Chase races at the 1.5-mile track.

 

Tony Stewart, on the other hand, won the first two Chase races, at Chicagoland and New Hampshire, and later won back-to-back events at Martinsville and Texas.

 

So who has the edge entering Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead?

 

“It would be easy to say that Carl’s got the edge, this is his track, the Roush cars have been so strong at the mile-and-a-half tracks, (and) he has a three-point advantage,” Gordon said. “(But) to me, Tony has just taken it to them. I don’t know what happened at the end of the race last week (at Phoenix). Carl kind of got the edge on him right at the end, but Tony had it for a good part of the race, led the most laps, and he did everything he needed to do.

 

“He’s going to have to do that again this weekend, but why shouldn’t he? He’s been doing it the last several weeks. It’s really hard to say who’s got the advantage. I would lean a little bit more toward Carl, but I’m pulling for Tony. He’s a two-time champion. He’s a guy that, when he sets his mind on something—watch out. He can do amazing things. Plus, I want to see a Chevy win.”

 

Stewart-Haas Racing gets chassis, engines and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports, the organization that fields Gordon’s Chevrolets. Does that mean that other Chevy drivers will try to help Stewart win the title?

 

“Alliances are always important, whether it’s a teammate or a relationship you have with another team, or it could be your buddy,” Gordon said. “You might have a good friend out there that might give you the spot because it’s going to win you the championship.”

 

Just don’t ask Ryan Newman, Stewart’s teammate, to pull over and let Stewart win if Newman is leading late in the race.

 

“From my standpoint, it’s business as usual,” Newman said. “I will do everything I can to help him. I will do whatever I can not to hurt him, but I will not sacrifice for myself, for my team, for the U.S. Army (Newman’s sponsor). … I don’t think that’s the right way of racing.

 

“I don’t think Tony would see it that way, or if the roles were reversed, he would expect or I would expect him to do the same thing for me. That’s not how we were brought up. That’s not how we race.”

 

Stewart said in Thursday’s contenders’ press conference in Miami Beach that he would wreck his mother on the last lap to win the title. Newman doesn’t doubt it for a minute, even if it came to moving his teammate out of the way.

 

“If he needed to, yeah,” Newman said. “I would do the same thing to him. I’m racing for a win, and he’s racing for a championship. If he has to pass me to win, yeah, that’s part of it. I’m not going to pull over for him, and, like I said, he would not pull over for me.

 

“We are not raised that way. Do what you have to do, man. In the end, he owns my racecar, so whatever he wants to do is fair game.”

 

Edwards and Stewart have the same opportunity—to win the title by winning Sunday’s race—and for his part, Edwards said Stewart’s declaration on Thursday made a potential decision on whether to bump his rival for the win much easier.

 

“Now that I know how he feels about it, I guess that’s pretty easy for me to decide,” Edwards quipped. “I think it was neat to hear Tony talk about it (Thursday). It is a national championship. This is a huge deal. This is a big race.

 

“Let me put it this way: I would only do it if I thought the other guys would do it to me. That’s that.”