Stewart, Edwards trade barbs before battle on the racetrack

Stewart, Edwards trade barbs before battle on the racetrack

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 17, 2011)

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—So who's nervous?

To hear Tony Stewart tell it, Carl Edwards has a severe case of butterflies.

Not so, says Edwards, who thinks Stewart just might be projecting his own case of nerves.

Not so, says Stewart, who would have you believe he has nothing to lose in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"We can't go backwards—we can't lose anything," Stewart said Thursday after a Sprint Cup title contenders press conference at Lummus Park in South Beach. "Literally, we cannot lose anything. He (Edwards can). He can lose the point lead."

In the closest Chase since the introduction of NASCAR's playoff format in 2004, Edwards and Stewart will decide the 2011 championship at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway 35 miles south of Miami.

Whether Stewart has nothing to lose is a matter of perspective, but it's abundantly clear that both drivers have plenty to win.

Stewart, the only driver to win a title under both a season-long scoring system and the Chase format, is seeking his third championship. If he can erase Edwards' three-point lead on Sunday, he'll become the first driver to hold a Winston Cup, a Nextel Cup and a Sprint Cup.

Stewart also would be the first owner/driver to win a championship since Alan Kulwicki overcame a 30-point deficit in the 1992 season finale at Atlanta. In three seasons, Stewart has helped transform what is now Stewart-Haas Racing from an also-ran to a title contender.

Edwards has the holy grail of stock car racing in front of him—his first Sprint Cup trophy.

If Thursday's press conference lacked the posturing and braggadocio of a boxing weigh-in, it nevertheless gave the only two drivers who can win the Sprint Cup a chance to measure each others' psyches.

Stewart started the needling, but it was a far cry from the contenders' news conference a year earlier, where Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick took turns taking shots, with surgical precision, at a visibly nervous Denny Hamlin seated between them. Three days later, Johnson overcame Hamlin's 15-point lead and won his fifth straight title.

On Thursday, as Stewart took the offensive, Edwards parried. Stewart started by telling Edwards how far he would go to win the championship.

"I'd wreck my mom to win a championship," Stewart said. "I'll wreck your mom to win a championship. I respect him (Edwards) as a driver, but this isn't about friendships this weekend. This is a war. This is a battle. This is for a national championship. It's no-holds-barred this weekend. I didn't come this far to be one step away from it and let it slip away, so we're going to go for it."

"Did you say something?" Edwards deadpanned.

"Yeah, you can come visit my trophy in the room at Vegas when you come out there (for the awards banquet)," Stewart rejoined.

"He's got the talking part figured out," Edwards said, and then turned to Stewart. "Problem is, you haven't led the points yet this year, have you?

"They say there's talkers and doers," Stewart retorted. "I've done this twice."

"That's the funny thing," Edwards answered. "I've listened to you talk a lot today. You've talked a lot about your past successes. That's very respectable. And truly, all joking aside, that will make it more fun if we're able to beat you. It will make me more proud."

For the past two weeks, in scintillating battles on the track at Texas and Phoenix, Edwards and Stewart have let their cars and their performances do the talking. Edwards put it in perspective after the press conference.

"It doesn't really matter to me if Tony's nervous or not," Edwards said. "I think he has to have a little bit of nerves. He's got a lot on his plate. He's got a lot of things going on. I think it would abnormal for either of us not to be a little wound up about this thing and excited about it.

"This is what we all race for—all year."