Tony Stewart warned Carl Edwards that the final three races would not be easy.
On Sunday, he backed up his threat.
“I think our performance spoke for itself,” Stewart said.
And it did.
Stewart entered Texas Motor Speedway -- a track that Edwards’ team, Roush Fenway Racing, has dominated in the last 15 years earning eight of 22 wins -- with an eight-point deficit in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup. He qualified two positions ahead of Edwards and remained in front of the No. 99 Ford for the majority of the day.
With 59 laps remaining in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500, Stewart blew past Edwards for the lead. When both cars pitted 26 laps later, Stewart's No. 14 team executed a flawless stop and Stewart, once again, upstaged Edwards. With five laps remaining in the race, Jeff Burton was forced to relinquish the point for fuel and Stewart took the lead for the final time.
After leading 173 circuits, the most laps in the race, and winning the AAA Texas 500, Stewart’s magic number dropped to three points.
“Do not count us out of this thing,” Stewart said. “Carl kept us honest today, but we did everything we could do. We got all the bonus points we could get and got the win. We gained more than we needed to gain on the average for the week so we‘re doing good.
“If you can do simple math, you can figure out that we gained over half of it in one week and we got two weeks to go, so it doesn‘t take much right now. It‘s one spot if a guy wins a race. We‘re doing exactly what we need to do. I‘m really confident right now.”
Despite claiming before the start of the Chase that he didn’t “deserve” a position in NASCAR’s playoffs, Stewart has rifled off four wins in the first eight events and shows no signs of slowing down.
Stewart’s dominating performance at Texas even took Edwards by surprise. Although Edwards has led the points for the last five weeks, Stewart has masterfully whittled away at the No. 99 team’s points lead.
“The surprising thing for all of us today was how well Tony ran here,” Edwards said. “I didn't expect him to run quite that well. Those guys, they did a really good job. It makes me think that (the season finale at) Homestead could be a lot closer than I expected before this race.
“We'll go to Homestead with the same package, same ideas, and hopefully have a similar performance. It looks like Tony might be in the same boat. Their mile-and-a-half program is good.”
Still, after the Texas race Edwards said he “wouldn’t have done anything differently.” If Edwards and his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing team anticipate going to Homestead-Miami Speedway, another track where that organization has dominated in the past, and winning the title, that might just be wishful thinking. Stewart "has nothing to lose" and could just as likely to hit them with a second surprise attack.
It's simply game over -- wait until 2012.
Edwards has to develop a game face as well as a game plan. What got this team into the Chase, and into the points lead, is no longer working. Stewart is coming for Edwards and time is running out.
“We're very fortunate to have led the points for as long as we have this season,” Edwards said. “I think the guys, I know myself, have a certain comfort level with it. We've watched the guys make runs at us and then fall away.
“At the end of the day it truly doesn't matter what the 14 team does or what Tony does or what anyone else does. All we can do is just go do the best we can do. It might feel comfortable to them to be the position they're in, to be gaining points. But truly the past is history. We've got to go out and run these next two races.
“Yeah, I don't underestimate them for a second. I know how good they are. But we're going to be good, as well.”
Edwards needs a reality check. With Stewart gunning for him, he’s about to learn very quickly that “good” is not going to be good enough.
"I don't feel like I have to say anything," Stewart said. "I got it done."
Did you know?
Numbers game
Say what?
Brad Keselowski, after backing into Denny Hamlin on pit road when Ryan Newman blocked him in the No. 2 stall:
“Tell the 11 I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking ... tell Ryan to wait 'til the next time he needs a break because he’s going around.”
