NASCAR Faced a Title Showdown a Full Decade Before Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s Showdown

In 2021, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen headed into the season finale race, dead even on points. Eventually, Verstappen prevailed courtesy of a controversial finish, but that’s another story. However, in 2011, NASCAR faced a similar situation in terms of points. Around the time, the battle was between Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards for the title.

Ahead of the race, Stewart firmly declared that he would ‘wreck his mom’ if it meant that he would win. Carl Edwards had the advantage with pole position, and Stewart was all the way down in 15th. When the race waved off, Stewart began his epic comeback. At one point, he pulled off an adroit move, going four-wide and diving down the inside.

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How did Tony Stewart win the 2011 NASCAR Cup Series title?

Soon, the race had to be suspended on account of tempestuous weather. Following a lengthy delay, the race finally resumed and everything was underway once again. On the restart, Stewart lined up fourth and was able to slip down the inside and make it three-wide. He was alongside Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, with Edwards right behind him.

Eventually, it was Stewart who emerged victorious, ahead of Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr, Matt Kenseth, and Jeff Gordon. When the season ended, the two of them accrued 2403 points each. However, as mentioned before, the title went to Tony Stewart, because he had grabbed more race wins through the course of the season.

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That would be the Stewart-Haas Racing driver’s third and final Cup Series title. It is worth mentioning that he continued racing with the organization until the 2016 season. Though if we’re being honest, the previous year was his final full-time season. In his final Cup season, he shared the #14 car with Ty Dillon and Brian Vickers. Even then, Stewart proved that he still had it within him, with a win at the Sonoma Raceway.

Tony Stewart became a NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee in the year 2019 and later married Top Drag Fuel racer, Leah Pruett, in 2021.