In his last eight starts,
Stewart has managed just one win (at Daytona in early July), two Top-5 and
three Top-10 finishes. An average finish of 17.25 over that span has dropped
him from a high of fifth in points to his current 10th-place
ranking, just 16 points ahead of a suddenly surging Kasey Kahne.
Based on last year’s results,
Smoke has the competition right where he wants them.
Last year at this time,
Stewart was also failing to impress. Over the same eight-race span, he had just
three Top-10 finishes, none of them better than second. His average finish was 13.25,
and he ranked no higher than ninth over that eight-race period. He snuck into
the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup through the back door, telling all who
cared to listen that he had no business being there and was just taking up
space.
"Our stuff is so bad
right now," said Stewart almost a year ago today. "We're wasting one
of those Top-12 spots."
He then embarked on one of
the most amazing hot streaks in the history of the sport, winning five of the
final 10 races – including a 118-cars-passed masterpiece in the season finale
at Homestead Miami Speedway -- and capturing the Sprint Cup championship over
rival Carl Edwards in a tiebreaker.
If lowered expectations line
the road to success in NASCAR, Stewart may once again be ready to contend for
the title. After all, he crashed out of Saturday night’s IRWIN Tools Night Race
at Bristol Motor Speedway while leading, battling door-to-door with Matt
Kenseth with the kind of damn-the-torpedoes ferocity that marked his 2011 Chase
performance.
If Smoke flames out of the
2012 title chase, it won’t be for a lack of trying.
Point well taken, on the other hand, Carl wasn't all that last year. This year Jimmie, The Biff, and Matt have been strong all year. Jr, Brad, and Denny aren't laying down. Dave this will be a different chase that 2011, there's more drivers this year on their a game. Sorry Tony not this year.
ReplyDeleteSmoke
ReplyDeleteChampion
Look out JJ, he's commin for ya.
Doug from NJ