CUP: Stewart Driver Of The Year

Sprint Cup

CUP: Stewart Driver Of The Year

Tony Stewart ran away with Driver of the Year honors...

Tom Jensen | Posted December 13, 2011 Charlotte, NC

Tony Stewart celebrates his victory in the fall race at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Tony Stewart was voted both 2011 Driver of the Year and fourth-quarter award winner by a panel of 20 motorsports broadcasters and journalists.

Stewart, who was also voted Driver of the Year after his second NASCAR Sprint Cup title in 2005, won the award easily this year, thanks to victories in five of the 10 races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“I have a lot of pride in this,” Stewart said in a release issued Tuesday morning. “This is an award that comes from a highly esteemed group. These are the awards that mean the most.”

Stewart set a record for Chase victories in his improbable march to a third NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

“The last quarter was a history maker, for sure,” Stewart said. “There are so many champions honored this way. It’s just amazing I don’t know how to put it words. It’s truly an honor.”

“It’s certainly ironic that last year’s vote involved a spirited debate, but this year’s was a slam dunk,” said Driver of the Year President Barry Schmoyer. “Stewart’s come-from-behind victory at Homestead will thrill fans for ages.”

Stewart earned 15 votes from the panel, while Carl Edwards, Dario Franchitti, Jason Meyers and Del Worsham each received one vote.

In the quarterly voting, Stewart beat Edwards and Meyers (162-73-51, respectively), getting all but one of the first place votes.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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Tom Jensen

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