Saturday, January 28th 'What If' Question

Before Tony Stewart went on his historic run through the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup he had to first make the Chase, which he almost didn't.

The No. 14 Office Depot / Mobile 1 team ran so poorly during the summer months that Stewart went on national television after the race in Michigan and said his team didn't deserve to be in the Chase. That they were just taking a spot away from another team who would probably compete for the championship while they just logged laps.

It was hard to find Stewart on the top of any list of those who were predicted to win the 2011 championship, including his own when he marked off Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman as those in the Chase who would be the ones fighting for the title. It certainly looked that way when at Bristol in August Stewart ran so bad that he finished 28th and multiple laps down, never in contention.

It wasn't that they had any problems, the 14 was slow all night and couldn't figure out what the problem was. It left him 10th in points where he would end up when the Chase started three weeks later. Little did anyone know, except for maybe Stewart at the point, the decision was about to be made that Darian Grubb was not going to be the crew chief on the No. 14 come 2012.

Meanwhile the Chase started and Stewart and company won the first two races and suddenly were looking like a different team than those who were counting themselves out a few weeks prior. Following the Kansas race Stewart sat seventh in points, only 19 markers behind leader Carl Edwards as the series headed to Charlotte for the Chase's fifth race, the halfway mark.

Again, little did anyone know Stewart and officials at SHR got together and informed Grubb that he indeed would not be the crew chief next season. The public unaware and the decision made, the 14 team went out to win three more times and grab the championship in the final race of the season, after tying Carl Edwards in points but earning the tie breaker with more wins.

Then not even an hour after the race Grubb told the world that he would not be back in 2012. An awkward celebration and offseason commenced soon after before Grubb left SHR for Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 11 team of Denny Hamlin. However, what he did with Stewart in 2011 will go down in history as one of the best and most exciting championship battles. He'll be remembered as the man who helped Stewart win his third title and first as a car owner.

But ...

What if TStewart & 14 team hadn't performed so bad during the summer, would he still have made the decision to replace Darian Grubb? #NASCAR

@Matt_Kacar tough one. I would say no but im glad he did since Grubb is now Hamlin's crew chief

@14Patti14 I think so. There had been a bit of grumbling going on for a while.

@ARosser14 Depends on how well he performed. There have been many lean periods during the three years of SHR, change needed to happen

@rustywings no way. I think his leaving was more his decision than Smoke's anyway. #noteasytoworkfor.