Was this what decided the championship?

FenderBumper

FenderBumper

The "good old days" ??
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I've watched the video again, and I think Keselowski racing Carl hard and clean ended Carls chances of racing Tony for the championship. As Tony goes real low and passes Keselowski, Carl following and just .086 behind Tony. Brad exits hard and stays alonside Carl, who has to check up a little and actually gets real loose and has to fall in behind Brad.

IF Brad had checked up and let Carl by, Carl would have been in Tonys draft with a good chance of running the high line and turning it into a real battle to the finish. Carl certainly wouldn't have given Tony the room everyone else did for that slide job he used all night.

Instead, Brad raced Carl hard, and slid up in front of Carl twice to break his momentum. Carl was clearly annoyed, and decided to run Brad WAY up the track on entry to get by. By the time Carl cleared Brad, Tony was out to more than a 1 second lead, and Carl could never get close enough to catch the draft.

Brad clearly felt it was goog, clean payback for Carls crazyness last year. When a reporter commented on twitter what a class act Carl was, Brad responded "Biting my tongue".

It was also interesting to listen to Tony try and reassure himself that Carl was being sincere and not just playing to the media. Carl himself said he thought long and hard about how he should act if he lost.

It also shocked me to hear Greg Biffle on race hub when the hosts were marveling at Carls class. Greg said Carl is smart with the media and knows what it takes to remain popular with the fans and his sponsor. Hmmmmm....
 
We can "what-if" the race to death I still don't think Carl would have gotten past Tony. Remember, Tony also had to pass Brad.
 
FenderBumper said:
I've watched the video again, and I think Keselowski racing Carl hard and clean ended Carls chances of racing Tony for the championship. As Tony goes real low and passes Keselowski, Carl following and just .086 behind Tony. Brad exits hard and stays alonside Carl, who has to check up a little and actually gets real loose and has to fall in behind Brad.

IF Brad had checked up and let Carl by, Carl would have been in Tonys draft with a good chance of running the high line and turning it into a real battle to the finish. Carl certainly wouldn't have given Tony the room everyone else did for that slide job he used all night.

Instead, Brad raced Carl hard, and slid up in front of Carl twice to break his momentum. Carl was clearly annoyed, and decided to run Brad WAY up the track on entry to get by. By the time Carl cleared Brad, Tony was out to more than a 1 second lead, and Carl could never get close enough to catch the draft.

Brad clearly felt it was goog, clean payback for Carls crazyness last year. When a reporter commented on twitter what a class act Carl was, Brad responded "Biting my tongue".

It was also interesting to listen to Tony try and reassure himself that Carl was being sincere and not just playing to the media. Carl himself said he thought long and hard about how he should act if he lost.

It also shocked me to hear Greg Biffle on race hub when the hosts were marveling at Carls class. Greg said Carl is smart with the media and knows what it takes to remain popular with the fans and his sponsor. Hmmmmm....
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Good observation,I hadn't really thought of as payback from Brad. Tony did make something like 118 green flag passes. Carl did show a lot of class. Something the Busch brothers lack!
 
Stewart Fan said:
I do know that Carl was worried about Harvick helping Tony.
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I also remember Tony saying he woudn't hold back to win. Before the race, Jack Roush made sure he pointed out that it was no holds bared, and said Carl would take care of it himself.

Nobody knows how it would have come out if Carl HAD stayed on Tonys bumper because Brad made sure he didn't. I hope Carl can now tell the difference between skillful and professional payback and the heavy handed and dangerous Dirty Harry police work he Kyle are known for.

Does anyone know who ran the fastest laps? Even though Tony passed a ton of cars, I'm not sure he was catching Carl. If you look at most of Tonys passes, the guys coming off the corner on the high side as he slid up had to ease off. Carl wouldn't have eased off, just as Brad didn't when Carl tried following Tony. If Carl used the draft and got outside, he would have pinned Tony in the low line on exit lap after lap until his tires gave up or they made contact. If Tony didn't protect the low line, Carl would have slid into him and tried to take the lead, because Tony made it clear he would do just that if he needed to.

IMO, this race would have had a very exciting and unpredictable ending if Brad gave Carl the bottom the same way he gave it to Tony. By running the bottom and forcing Carl to try the outside pass and then sliding up and breaking his momentum, he CLEARLY gave Tony a big lead.
 
2 tires vs. 4 tires was a big difference. And Brad DID play a role in helping Smoke get a more substantial lead. WTG BRAD!

I dislike Eddie Haskell as much as some of you dislike Pee Wee. Carl is such a disingenuous, two-faced piece of shat that, even if I hated Stewart (which I don't) I would have been rooting for him to beat Eddie!
 
BobbyFord said:
I believe it was because Tony took 4 and Osborne gave Carl only 2.
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Once Carl cleared Brad, his lap times were the same as Tony because Carls left sides didn't have too many laps on them. He even closed the gap slightly.

IF Carl maintains his distance while passing Brad, he's in Tonys draft and he has a clear speed advantage to get alongside on a wall to wall track like Homestead.
 
BobbyFord said:
With compatible racecars, newer tires and clean air wins almost every time over older tires.
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Equal right side tires is the key. Also, that isn't as true on a wide open track like homestead. Like I said, Carl was SLIGHTLY faster than Tony.

Brads hard racing clearly cost Carl a chance to race Tony at the end. Tony didn't have the speed to pull away, and Carl was right on his bumper.

So, put Carl on Tonys bumper, and it's a completely different race to the finish. Maybe the same result, maybe not.
 
FenderBumper said:
Equal right side tires is the key. Also, that isn't as true on a wide open track like homestead. Like I said, Carl was SLIGHTLY faster than Tony.

Brads hard racing clearly cost Carl a chance to race Tony at the end. Tony didn't have the speed to pull away, and Carl was right on his bumper.

So, put Carl on Tonys bumper, and it's a completely different race to the finish. Maybe the same result, maybe not.
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I don't agree, Edwards was running his stuff as hard as he could he was smoking the right rear coming off and had the brakes glowing going in. Once Tony got a little breathing room on him he backed off ( maybe he was running 98% instead of 100% :rolleyes: ) a little and kept a solid gap on Cus Carl. Even if Carl could have caught him Tony had plenty left to hold him off.
 
Stewart Fan said:
Payback is a bi*** isn't it?
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Yep, especially when it's served cold. I know Brad is dying to comment on why he raced Carl so hard, and why he made it a point to park next to Tony while he and Carl were parked on the track. Brad got a big wave and a big smile from Tony, so he surely understood that Brad made it a little easier for him.

Brad typically waits a few days before commenting on these things, so we may find out what he thinks. He already made it clear that he still doesn't like Carl at all. I wouldn't. Not if a guy nearly ended my career at Gateway like that and to this day says he did "EXACTLY the right thing".
 
Keselowski handled a difficult situation like a true professional he raced hard but clean, maybe he helped Tony a bit maybe he did'nt? Gotta give him Kudo's for the job he did!
Kez still has friends and contacts in the Bowtie world and with only a couple Dodges in the feild anymore........well he'll always have options if Panske or Dodge gives him issues.
 
Just watched that part again. After the last restart Carl couldn't pass Brad so he got behind him. Brad did nothing wrong. Then it took Carl 2 or so laps to get a run on Brad and when he did Brad pulled over and let him pass. I don't see the big drama in it unless Brad was not a lead-lap car.

Also, Carl had 33 laps to erase a 1 second deficit and he couldn't do it. 33 laps is PLENTY of time to catch someone if you can.
 
To heck with Tony and Carl...didn't anyone else see Brad trying to win the damn race ?:confused:
 
ted@economy said:
To heck with Tony and Carl...didn't anyone else see Brad trying to win the damn race ?:confused:
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There were plenty of guys trying to win the race! They just couldn't measure up to the Dynamo called SMOKE! (or Mr. Ed for that matter...)
 
What if's.......


What if Samantha Busch has worn a tight white tee shirt, when it rained....
 
So payback is complete and it's over and done with or what?
 
Could'a, would'a, should'a.

Tony Stewart out raced the other drivers for the entire race and could'a, would'a, shoud'a been this years champion.

Oh wait, he IS this years champion. :beerbang:
 
Jeffrey00 said:
3 pages and nobody mentions Jeff Burton moving over for Tony on the last lap at Phoenix.
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I did, in another thread. I also thought about Greg Biffle at Talladega with 17 to go and saying they should get to the front. Carl said he wanted to lay back a bit longer.......

Like Tony said, Carl slept too long.
 
FlFlash said:
Unless you have video this is a damn cruel post!
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Ashley Judd celebrating Dario's Indy five hunderd win in the rain is the closest moment I am aware of, and I can not post an image, I am at work.
 
During the last 30 or so laps, Tony was indeed faster than Carl. They would show the gap in the upper part of the screen for most of those laps, and Tony was steadily pulling away. Less than 10ths of second per lap, but still pulling away.

In the end, it looked like Tony was a bit more hungry thatn Carl was, and it showed.

I honestly don't see brad racing Carl too hard, Brad wanted the win too, and happened to be as fast as Carl at the time.
 
Did Carl ever get within a second of Tony the last twenty laps of Homestead?:confused:
 
Smoke14 said:
Did Carl ever get within a second of Tony the last twenty laps of Homestead?:confused:
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Nope. The gap would change a little tiny bit and they would report on it, but I never saw it go below one second. I think the final margin was 1.3 seconds.
 
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