“Enough Drama to Cover Five Races”: Tony Stewart’s Most Satisfying Moment in Storied NASCAR Career

This season, Tony Stewart chose to disband his Stewart-Haas Racing team to devote more time to his family and his NHRA pursuits. However, when probed about his most gratifying moment as a NASCAR team owner, Stewart reminisced about a particular memory from 2011 that stands out in his career.

The Indiana native shared on an episode of ‘Cars and Culture with Jason Stein’ in November, “The one that just stands a little bit above the rest of them for obvious reasons is that Championship run at Homestead in 2011.”

Further continuing, he elaborated, “To win the first championship for SHR and to be the last owner-driver to win a championship since Allen Quicki and in the dramatic fashion that it happened.”

“I mean, if people go back and they watched that entire race and all the drama that happened during that, there was enough drama that we had personally to cover five races,” added the 53-year-old.

In 2011, Tony Stewart’s win at the season-ending Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway was not just another race win; it also earned him the championship by placing him on equal points with Carl Edwards.

Stewart won the championship by the first tie-breaker as he had secured five race victories, all during the playoffs, compared to just one win throughout the season for Edwards.

The driver of the#14 Chevrolet driver at the time, he entered the playoffs without a single win, typically hovering between P9 and P12 in the standings for most of the season, and began the playoffs in ninth place.

This was before NASCAR introduced the elimination playoff format in 2014. Moreover, during the 26 races leading up to the playoffs, Stewart only managed 3 top-5 finishes.

Reflecting on the team’s struggles, Stewart candidly remarked after the regular season finale at Richmond, “We don’t belong in the playoffs,” a nod to the team’s subpar performance and record up to that juncture.

But then, Stewart’s 2011 season featured one of the most remarkable comebacks in NASCAR history. He started the playoffs with a victory in Chicago, followed by a consecutive win in New Hampshire.

After four weeks of his second win, he finished all the final four races in top-5 winning three of them at Martinsville, Texas, culminating with a pivotal win at the season finale in Homestead.

However, a shadow hung over the season from an earlier decision. At the end of the regular season, Stewart informed his crew chief, Darian Grubb, that he would be released at the end of the season due to their inability to secure wins during the regular campaign.

Despite guiding ‘Smoke’ to a championship win during the playoffs, Grubb was let go, a decision that later drew criticism from fans, who felt the move was unjust given the spectacular late-season turnaround.