What Did We Learn in 2011?

What did the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season teach us?

Many things, not the least of which is that you can expect, every once in a while, that a team and driver will just catch lightning in a bottle and run with it, all the way to the head table tonight.

That’s what Tony Stewart and his team did, beating Carl Edwards in the most epic, challenging, down-to-the-wire battle in NASCAR history. It ended in a tie, for Pete’s sake. How much closer could it have been, for Pete's sake?

We learned that Jimmie Johnson’s super powers have a shelf life, and that Kryptonite does work on Five-Time. He’s not done, by any means, but it’s hard to maintain that level of performance for six months, let alone 60.

We learned that there is life still left in SuperG, and that if he could solve a couple issues here and there, he might tie his partner/protégé with five titles.

We learned that Dale Earnhardt Jr. can still drive (he never stopped) and that he has finally found a crew chief he’s comfortable with that isn’t somewhere in his family tree.

We learned that Marcos Ambrose is going to win an oval race soon, and so is Juan Pablo Montoya, while Kasey Kahne should make hay in the 5 car next year after a pretty good season in the 4.

We learned that the new point system works, the wild-card is a gem and that pressure to repeat this kind of championship is going to be bigger than Tiny Lund’s suit bag.

We learned that the Brothers Busch still have issues. That's not a learning, really, sort of a reaffirmation. We hope they'll work it out soon.

Finally, we learned that your champion is among the greats in motorsports, not just NASCAR. We learned that his top rival has a lot of class, and we learned that the possibilities are endless for 2012.

Now let’s hope we realize them.