Winning would be simplest way for contenders to clinch

Winning would be simplest way for contenders to clinch

By Jim Pedley

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 17, 2011)

Two very different teams and drivers will take to the Homestead-Miami Speedway track Sunday in pursuit of the 2011 Sprint Cup championship. But those two drivers and their teams are being forced into having identical game plans on their clipboards.

Win the Ford 400.

Points leader Carl Edwards of Roush Fenway Racing, and Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing, will take the green flag in Sunday's season-ending race separated by just three points.

If either can win, it will assure them of the championship. Simple as that. So win at Homestead, as Edwards said, "That is what our mission is."

History, numbers and intangibles all show that both Edwards and Stewart have to be considered as strong contenders to win on Sunday.

Both drivers have two victories at HMS.

Edwards' two victories—including one of a year ago—have come in the last three races at the 1.5-mile track. That means both have come on the track since it was reconfigured with steeper, progressive banking, while Stewart's came before the 2003 revamp job.

Edwards' average finish is an impressive 5.7 to Stewart's darn good 12.4.

Edwards said HMS is his favorite paved track, and, "We will go there and try to repeat what we did last year. I feel like we have a good opportunity to do that this year. I think we will go into Homestead trying to sit on the pole and win the race and put a dot on this championship, hopefully."

Stewart said, "I like Homestead. It's a place that we had a lot of success when it was flat. We haven't got that win with it banked. (But) I like the way that track races right now."

Also, Stewart will be driving a Chevrolet at a track at which Roush Fords won six of the last seven years.

Other factors seem to favor Stewart.

Like momentum. Stewart has won four 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. He arrives at Homestead with three straight podium finishes. Stewart has traditionally said he doesn't put much stock in momentum but, as he said heading to Kansas after finishing 25th at Dover, "I would rather have it than not have it."

Edwards said Stewart's momentum only inspires him.

"It is neat to me that Tony and the guys on the (No.) 14 have been running so well and have won so many races and are performing at such a high level. It is going to mean more if we are able to beat them in this championship because of that."

Stewart also has championship experience—he won the Sprint Cup titles in 2002 and 2005.

"The good thing is we've been in this position a lot of times," Stewart said.

The phrase "best Chase ever" has been tossed around a lot in recent days. Stewart, not one to get caught up in hype of the moment, looked at all the factors involved in Edwards vs. Stewart, and joined in. 

"We both had to fight and fight and fight to get every point we can get up to this point," he said. "I think it makes it more gratifying, the results, at the end of the day. I feel like I'm working towards something and I feel like if we accomplish this, we have worked for it, not had it handed to us, not had it given to us. That's all you can ask for as a driver, is to be in that position.

"I think it's pretty honorable to be in that situation right now. It's an awesome championship battle."

And it could get even better Sunday.