This is good stuff... Edwards verses Stewart, One race, One championship

It ain't plagiarism if ya own up to it!


This is good stuff and I thought we'd all like to comment on it here...

Trash talk between Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards spices up championship race

By Bob Pockrass (for scenedaily.com) / Thursday, November 17, 2011

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards have a healthy respect for each other but that didn’t stop them from trading a few barbs on the brink of their showdown for the Sprint Cup championship.
Stewart, winner of four races in the Chase For The Sprint Cup, remains confident and almost cocky as he sits three points behind Edwards and knows that a win Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway could earn him the title.
Edwards, meanwhile, is acting more like a seasoned champion – he’s not while Stewart has won two Cup titles – by displaying confidence but not hitting below the belt.
When asked during the championship contenders news conference Thursday if he would wreck Edwards for the title, Stewart didn’t hold back.
“I’d wreck my mom to win a championship. … I respect him as a driver, but this isn't about friendships this weekend,” Stewart said. “This is a war. This is a battle. This is for a national championship. It's no-holds-barred this weekend. I didn't come this far to be one step away from it and let it slip away, so we're going to go for it.”
Edwards, sitting next to Stewart at the time, replied: “Did you say something?”
Stewart then said: “You can come visit my trophy in the room at Vegas [for the banquet] when you come out there.”
Edwards then mocked Stewart: “He's got the talking part figured out. Problem is, you haven't led the points yet this year, have you?”
Actually Stewart did lead the standings for two weeks earlier this year. Edwards, however, has led for 21 weeks, including the last six. Stewart didn’t need to know that to answer Edwards.
“They say there's talkers and doers,” said Stewart. “I've done this twice.”
And then Edwards had more: “That's the funny thing. I've listened to you talk a lot today. You've talked a lot about your past successes. That is very respectable. And truly, all joking aside, that will make it more fun if we're able to beat you. It will make me more proud.”
Throughout the day, Stewart played up his nothing-to-lose theme.
“He was doing a pretty good acting job up there today,” Stewart said after the news conference. “He’s a lot more nervous than he lets on. But he’s got a lot of class and he’s got a lot of character.
“He’s a strong person, but I don’t think he’s as strong as he wants to lead everyone to believe he is going into this weekend.”
Edwards swears he’s at peace with whatever happens.
“The things that are real important to me are not really what everyone is talking about,” Edwards said. “The things that are important to me are going out and doing my very best, enjoying it and having fun.
“That’s how I feel about this week and about this race. … This would be the hugest accomplishment of my career, that goes without saying. I have learned to temper the want for that so it doesn’t hurt me.”

If verbal sparring counts for anything then Tony's gonna win hands down!

Source: http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Trash_talk_between_Tony_Stewart_Carl_Edwards_spices_up_championship_race.html

And The Winner Is...

Prior to NASCAR announcing their changes to the Sprint Cup points scoring procedures last winter I made the case for a much greater reward for drivers and teams that actually win the races. The thought being that it would act to stimulate competition at the front of the pack and diminish the benefits of playing it safe and shooting for consistency.

Today, with two races left in the 2011 Chase my fears have been confirmed as the top driver has a grand total of 1 win on the season. This while the second place driver has 4 wins and on top of that, all 4 wins have come in the 8 Chase races so far this season. Now how on God’s green earth is the guy with 4 wins in the Chase not in the lead?

I guess the name of the game still excludes winning…

Upon Further Review...

Take a look at what occurred during the initial contact between the 18 and the 33. Hornaday moves in on Kyle to take 3rd place and then slower traffic forces 3 wide as Kyle contends for the position. That's when the two rigs come together and Kyle is suddenly forced up the track... But that's not enough. Kyle hadn't gotten into the wall yet so there's the 33 moving up into the 18 again... That's where the wall comes into play. Here's Speed TV's video...

http://www.speedtv.com/video/nascar/trucks

Now I'm not condoning what happens next, but I think it's a little more understandable given that it appears Hornaday could've backed off but he didn't. The bottom line is Kyle will begrudgedly be given a measure of respect from other drivers knowing if they go out of their way to wham him they're going to get whammed back...

We've all heard the rhetoric coming from the Hornaday/Harvick camp, here's Kyle's take on what happened... “If you make it a three-wide situation, I can’t go up in the dirt, you know?” Busch said. “I’m already on the outside lane, there’s not three lanes out here right now. … So if I just lay over and give up everything for Ron Hornaday, that’s not Kyle Busch’s fashion. I’m out here to win a race just as much as anybody else is.

“When he races up on my inside, gets loose and takes me up to the fence, I ended up losing my cool. I’ve been wrecked four weeks in a row and finally I’d just had enough of it.”

Now this is being written prior to NASCAR's Saturday morning meeting with Kyle... Will they park him in the NW or Cup race? I'm thinking they may shut down KBM for Homestead, but they want him and all the controversy to flow. Let's face it, Kyle has a way of stirring NASCAR's drink, and with big football games to compete with, NASCAR should welcome the attention.