Best Man Wins

More than anything, Sunday’s battle for the NASCAR Sprint Cup trophy focuses on the men who push the loud pedal inside their respective cars.

Sure, you can make the case that the machine has to match the man, but that’s a given. Just as the driver has always been known as the weakest link in the race car during a crash, it’s true before they ever assume the position.

Who has his head screwed on tight, and who is hyperventilating? Who is calm under pressure and who freaks out like that lady in the original Airplane! movie? Who makes the right move at the right time and seizes the day, and who is a day late and a dollar short?

It bears some scrutiny, doesn’t it?

Take yesterday’s championship press conference, for instance. Tony Stewart went straight from Arizona to Florida, while Carl went home to Missouri and cadged about the house. That’s a push, because each went where he was comfortable.

But as that press conference wore on, you could tell who was Obi-Wan Kenobi and who was the clueless Storm Trooper.

“It's an awesome position to be in,” Stewart said of his spot, second in the points. “Three points really isn't a deficit at this point. We go out and win the race, it doesn't matter what they do on their side, we still control our own destiny.  We have absolutely got nothing to lose and everything to gain. That makes us a dangerous combination for the weekend. “

Edwards, meanwhile, played defense.

“I don't really have any nerves,” he said. “We've been running well, earned our spot at the top of the standings. I'm excited to have this opportunity to go out and win this championship. We couldn't feel better about the race track. We feel really good about the race.  It's pretty fun. I'm enjoying it. I'm just looking forward to going out there and racing the car.”

Stewart plays mind games. It’s a fact. He likes the thrust and parry of a good old-fashioned war of words. Carl plays the game too, but it’s a bit different. Stewart has been around long enough and been in enough title runs to be completely at ease with the limelight. Edwards is still relatively young in that regard.

Consider the cut that’s been playing on SportsCenter for the past 24 hours. Asked whether they would hesitate to move the other driver if it came down to it, Stewart grinned his Evil Tony grin and went to work.

“I'd wreck my mom to win a championship. I'll wreck your mom to win a championship,” he said, that smile playing on his face. “I respect him [Edwards] as a driver, but this isn't about friendships this weekend. 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.”

Gauntlet thrown, Edwards did his best to pick it up.

“Did you say something?,” Edwards replied, with a different sort of smile on his face.

Stewart: “Yeah, you can come visit my trophy in the room at Vegas when you come out there.”

Edwards: “He's got the talking part figured out. Problem is, you haven't led the points yet this year, have you?”

Stewart: “They say there's talkers and doers. I've done this twice.”

Edwards: “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.

“But this is going to be a good competition, you guys. Don't think for a second that either one of us are going to let anything slide. We're going to go out here, we're going to race hard, and we're going for this championship. I don't think you could find two harder racers than us up here and we both know that about each other.”

Point of order: Stewart did lead the points this year, after the second race of the Chase at New Hampshire.

I give it to Stewart on points, because he’s the one putting the pressure on and Edwards had to react to it.

While he’s usually brash and unabashedly aggressive, Stewart can be introspective at times, too.

The two times he’s won titles at Homestead, he’s come in with leads that meant all he had to do was race carefully, not get into something he couldn’t get out of, and collect the big check at the end. This year is different, he admitted, but also refreshing.

“It's been odd,” he said. “The only part this week that's concerned me and that I've been worried about is the fact that I haven't been nervous about it. In 2002, 2005, we had big leads, but still you were nervous about it because you knew it could get away. I guess the fact we didn't think we would even be in the Chase to begin with, it's taken a lot of that pressure off.”

Stewart said it is what it is, and that makes it easier to deal with.

“We're not trying to overcome a big deficit. We're right there right behind him. For us, like I said, we can finish 43rd this weekend and not be any worse off than we are right now so we don't have anything to lose. We can throw everything we got at it. If we make a mistake doing it, it doesn't cost anything. There's no penalty for us screwing up.

“With that does, it takes every ounce of pressure away. We have everything to gain, nothing to lose. Like I said, it's a dangerous combination to put us in that kind of mode because we've been hot lately, we've been running good, we're feeling good, the team is feeling good about everything. You couldn't ask for a better scenario.”

We’ll see what happens on Sunday. It could be over before it gets started good, the way some races have gone. Or it could come down to the final lap.

Can’t wait to find out.