The fall of 2011.

I remember that very well. I suspect that you do too!

Of course, your precursor from Michigan is legendary now: that you had run terribly, that you didn’t feel like you deserved to be in the Chase, and so on and so forth. Are you sure you weren’t just playing us?

For me, that season is divided into two parts: September, and then the end of October on.

I was very happy to see the Chicago win come, as my dearest friend lived up there at the time, and it gave me a good reason to message her (which I promptly did after the race)! That was a fun entry-level college experience: I was sitting in the Student Union, watching everything unfold on my computer.

It was a bit of a shame that I couldn’t turn the sound up, but you best believe that I did a little fist pump in my chair!

The same can be said about the New Hampshire win a week later, which by all accounts was retribution for the way things had played out the year prior. How ironic too that it was Bowyer who ran out after he beat you to the line when you ran out the year before!

Those wins were cool, but it was Martinsville that was the turning point.

I was actually on my way to a work meeting that Sunday, and found out about the win from the back seat of a sedan that was packed full with 5 people.

And the first thought that came through my head when I looked down at my screen and saw that you had won?

“Well shoot, we might just have a chance at this!”

How wild it would get over the next four weekends. Texas made it clear that we would be in this until Homestead, and Phoenix carried every bit the drama of a close championship game that was late in the going.

And Homestead. Oh, Homestead!

I was on nerve’s end the whole day, just like everybody else. I freaked out when the hole came in the bumper and the tape had to go on the car, I freaked out when the pit stop was botched, and I am all but certain that I couldn’t breathe when you dove all the way down to the bottom and took everybody four-wide into Turn 1.

Then again, it wouldn’t be you racing if it didn’t involve a little bit of crazy now, wouldn’t it?

I’ll admit that I wasn’t watching much of what happened on track for the final 40 laps. I was watching the intervals instead. I wanted to know what might be happening in 5 laps, in 10 laps, in 20 laps.

And they all said the same thing: you and Carl were running times that were dead even with one another, and that he wouldn’t be catching you by running you down.

And as the laps ticked off, I started thinking in terms of Murphy’s Law. 2008 hadn’t escaped me.

“What if he hits the wall because he runs too close to it? What if a tire goes down? What if that damage from earlier does something to screw him up in the final laps?”

But none of the above ever happened. I was fairly certain that you had it with about two laps to go, but I didn’t let myself say anything. I didn’t want to jinx it.

And then when it actually happened? I jumped around in a circle, I waved my hands around like a madman, I screamed my bloody head off! There were people outside the suite that I was in that were so concerned that they peeked their heads in just to make sure I was okay! And I explained everything to them. Then I was so exhausted – physically, mentally and emotionally – that I fell face first onto the bed that was conveniently behind me.

Of course, I sprung right back up in about a minute and then watched all of the celebrations on TV. But I think I remember the celebrations I had afterward best.

I went to the famed old well on campus, I sang “We Are The Champions” underneath it, and I took my picture underneath the sucker in your shirt, with the #1 finger up.

I ran around the main dining hall three times, screaming my head off all the way! Then I ran through the main quad and did some cartwheels. That last bit is on video on my Facebook page, if you’re ever curious.

While I had a lot of fun that night, I was old enough and wise enough to have a decent sense of the historical significance of this third championship. Because I knew it was a big one.

To start: your average finish through the final four races of 2011 was 1.5. 1.5! Who does that?

I suppose it’s just more proof (along with the Summer of 2005) that when your heart is set on plastering everyone in the field and leaving them in your wake, you are unstoppable in a way that few drivers ever have been, and ever will be.

This title also left zero doubts about the ability of Stewart-Haas Racing. Sprint Cup Champions at last! Nothing more needed to be said.

It put you in very special air, as the first driver to win championships under three completely different points systems. Not even Gordon or Johnson could say that.

But the obvious one is the one that stands out to me, especially when the man that preceded you is taken into consideration: the first owner-driver to win the series championship since Alan Kulwicki did it in 1992 (also after an incredible championship fight in what I still consider to be the most historically significant and very best NASCAR race ever run).

Given the amount of work that Kulwicki put in to make the “Underbird” dream a reality, it was not hard to see you name go up next to his and realize that winning the title was an owner-driver was really special.

I knew while I was celebrating that evening, I wanted to make sure that I took in the significance and enjoyed the moment. Because I got the sense that it was probably the last series title that you would win. I even said as much to my friends that night. I also wondered if it might be the high watermark for the rest of your career.

Unfortunately, it would turn out that I was correct in both assumptions.

Stay tuned for the final installement of this five-part series, coming up tomorrow on Race Chaser Online!

The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Race Chaser Online, the Performance Motorsports Network, Scorpion Radio Group, their sponsors or other contributors.

About the Writer

James Pike is a multi-faceted reporter for Race Chaser Online and an analyst on the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.

He is the lead correspondent for Race Chaser Online’s coverage of Australian Supercars and also covers regional touring series events in the Carolinas. He is a graduate of the Motorsports Management program at Belmont Abbey College and currently resides in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Email James at: [email protected]

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