Throughout his career in NASCAR, Tony Stewart moved with and carried a swagger that was completely unique to him. It added loads and loads to his personality and appeal, but it also helped him find his way around his competitors on the racetrack. The biggest example of this would be his showdown with Carl Edwards for the 2011 Cup title, something Kevin Harvick and others at Stewart Haas Racing recently looked back on.
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Harvick, who won his Cup title driving for Stewart’s team, described his thoughts on his boss’ iconic third Cup championship win. And along with the #4 driver, Chase Briscoe and Aric Almirola, also shared their memories and opinions on their boss’ massive achievement.
Kevin Harvick thinks Tony Stewart winning in 2011 was a very Tony Stewart thing
Speaking about that penultimate race at Homestead that Stewart ended up winning, Kevin Harvick said, “That was just a very Tony Stewart kinda moment … year. All the drama, all the talk, all the performances that came with that, there’s just a number of things that go along with everything that is Tony Stewart.”
“In the end, he wound up winning the championship in dramatic style, and the road to get there was not easy.”
Briscoe deemed that run as “so unbelievable”, that Stewart actually ended up winning 5 out of the last 10 races in a season when he wasn’t the best car. “This shows how tenacious Tony is,” he added.
Almirola was also in awe of Stewart’s tenacity as he pointed to the sheer disbelief he felt looking at Stewart overcoming massive adversity to chase down Carl Edwards. “He was certainly in Carl’s head, leading into the weekend and throughout the race. You just had to know that Carl saw him coming in his rear-view mirror and had a little feeling of defeat,” he said.
Has Carl Edwards moved past the heartbreak of losing that title to Tony Stewart?
Losing a championship is a heartbreaking feeling to endure by itself. But losing it in how Carl Edwards lost it to Tony Stewart in 2011 has to be a heartbreak that aches long after the years have rolled by. However, for Edwards, that wasn’t the case. In fact, that hasn’t been the case for a while now.
In a 2016 interview with SB Nation, Edwards opened up on how he views that one title that got away from him after he saw a broadcast of it on television. “At first I thought, ‘Man, I don’t want to watch this,'” Edwards said. “Then, I watched it and I thought, ‘This is good for me. I need to get to remember what that was like and get a glimpse and a view of how important this is,’ and it really was.”
Edwards claimed it was “motivating”, and when he turned it off, he was ready to race right then. Having said that, he did claim he would have loved to win that more than anything, but to him, it was “a good experience,” one that galvanized him.
