Three-Time-Tony

In August, Tony Stewart said the way they were running, they didn't deserve to be in the Chase.

Really? Really!

Make the Chase. Check. Win a race. Check. Check, check, check, check.

Win the title dead even in points, but because of the wins and bonus points, get the trophy. Big check there. Not to mention the $5.6 million check from Sprint.

"Did I make it exciting enough?" TStew asked after the race.

Duh. Ya think?

Like the photo? Not from the Associate Press. From one of my race BFFs, Joni Baumgart who was in Victory Lane, texting me the whole race.

He was loose and relaxed all week long. Lots of jokes and jabs to Carl Edwards.

"We had absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain," he told the media after the race.

Let's examine that point. Starts the race, gets damage to the grill, goes to the back. Then charges to the front. Fixing it a second time after getting in to another car, goes to the back, muscles his way to the front.

He passed 114 cars during the race. Worst to first, twice.

"I feel like I passed half of Florida," he said in the media conference after the race.

The last laps come down to the two points leaders, with the blue and yellow flag flying saying "move over and let 'em race it out!"

Props to Roush Fenway and the 99, though. So Cousin Carl comes in 2nd. His owner Jack Roush did ok for the weekend overall - Nationwide champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and snagging the manufacturer's trophy. And Ricky and Carl provided the coolest burnout ever - nose to nose. Carl got the short end on that one, all the smoke wafted into his car.

"So, I didn't too feel bad taking this one from Jack," Tony said after the race.

He also confessed to walking past the 99 pit box during the rain red flag with one more jab at the competition. Jack Roush was having a conversation with Robert Yates.

"I looked at Jack and said 'Tell you boy he better get up on the wheel, I'm coming,'" Tony said, adding Jack looked at him like he had three heads. Messing with the other driver is one thing, the ohter driver's senior citizen boss? Yeah, why not?

All the trash talk was fun over the past few weeks.

"It was like picking on a kid. (Carl's) too nice to fight back," Tony said.

When Carl got to the winning car and stuck his head inside to congratulate the winner, the comment from Carl was, "Promise me you'll have fun with this."

Not to rain on the Stewart parade in Colubus, Indiana before it starts, but he doesn't have a crew chief next season. Darian Grubb won't be on the pit box next year, that decision was made long ago.

Will Robbie Reiser step down at SHR and be his chief? He has the experience with SHR stablemate Ryan Newman. Or, another scenario here, will Greg Zipadelli leave Joe Gibbs and the 20 of Joey Logano and come back to his "brother" in racing, Tony? Or the other rumor for the box, Steve Addington, since he's leaving Penske and Kurt Busch.

I will admit, I had Tony's attitude at one point this season, too. Watching him start 42nd out of 43 at Bristol? Being multiple laps down the majority of the race? I said more than one time, “I need a new driver.” He seemed to have lost his zeal, his ferociousness. Then, as he said, dropped some “deadweight.” Darian Grubb still contends he has no idea what that was all about. Doesn't matter. He came out a different Tony.

OK, I was wrong. I didn't need a new driver. Just the faith, kind of like JR Nation's.

Three-Time-Tony. Has a nice ring to it.