MOTORSPORTS: No demons for Stewart in celebration of second Cup
By David Green, Journal Register Newspapers
12/2/2005
Tony Stewart won a second NASCAR Cup Series championship and Greg Biffle won a humdinger of a race in the Ford 400 Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That would have been enough, but it wasn’t half the story.
Consider the drama of the championship, with four drivers vying for the Nextel Cup crown — Stewart, the 2002 Winston Cup titlist; Jimmie Johnson, runner-up the past two years; rising star Carl Edwards, in his first full season as a Cup driver; and Biffle, trying to win the third straight Cup title for Roush Racing.
Stewart came into the evening with a 52-point lead over Johnson, still on top of the points despite failing to score a victory in the first nine of 10 Chase for the Cup races that decided the season championship. All he needed to do was finish ninth or better, and the title was his. Nineteen times in the previous 21 races, Stewart had done that.
Johnson had won twice in the first nine Chase events, giving him a total of four victories. In 2004 he won four Chase events and eight overall, but came out second-best to Kurt Busch. Biffle was the defending champion of the Ford 400, his victory a year ago helping Roush teammate Busch edge Johnson by 8 points for the first Nextel Cup title.
Edwards’ was perhaps the most exciting story of all. In his first full Cup-circuit season, the 25-year-old had won four times, including twice in Chase Races No. 7 and 8, and capture fans’ affection with aggressive racing and athletic back-flips he does to celebrate victories.
Consider the bittersweet circumstances for veterans Rusty Wallace, officially calling it a career after 23 years in the Cup ranks, and Ricky Rudd, moving into semi-retirement after being a circuit stalwart since 1977.
In his final season, Wallace, the 1989 Winston Cup champ, made the Chase field but came to the finale out of contention. Wallace had these comments in the pre-race drivers’ meeting, when he addressed his colleagues:
"Tony, you’ve been a hell of a personality this year, that’s for sure. It’s either going to be Carl or Tony or Jimmie or Greg. One of you four is going to get this thing and whoever gets it, do your damnedest to respect this sport because driving these cars is a privilege. It’s not something that we just do. Not many people get to do this and I’m grateful that I got to do it."
And finally, consider the greatest thing about the evening: the manner in which Stewart won the championship, in the cockpit and out of it.
As a driver, Stewart had the best overall performance, from the season’s start to its conclusion. His greatest success came in a seven-race stretch between late June and the middle of August, when he won five times. One of the victories came in the prestigious Allstate 400 at the hallowed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Before and after that hot streak, Stewart was among the most competitive entries week in and week out, on all types of tracks — superspeedways, intermediate speedways, short tracks, flat tracks, banked tracks, road courses.
As an individual, Stewart had an even better year. He appeared to have tamed the demons that made him one of NASCAR’s more controversial figures recently. His championship in 2002 was blemished by run-ins with competitors, the media and other adversaries that very nearly lost him his job.
Team owner Joe Gibbs, crew chief Greg Zipadelli and his crew stuck with Stewart, though, and this year, the 31-year-old seemed to enjoy racing like never before. After winning at Indy, a milestone achievement for the Hoosier State native, Stewart savored victory. The scene repeated itself Sunday at Homestead. The tension of his celebration in 2002 was happily missing this time.
"I’ve put the team through a lot of hell," Stewart said. "It was nice to do it and do it right this time."
He’s clearly one of auto racing’s all-time great drivers. It’s fitting that he’s finally enjoying his greatness.
