The 2011 season featured a rivalry between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart. The two drivers battled on the track while Stewart used his voice to add fuel to the fire. Years later, Edwards revealed how he felt about the experience.
"We got down to that final race, and it didn't go how I wanted, but it was so much fun," Edwards said during an appearance on "The Dale Jr. Download" podcast. "To be able to race like that, and everything's on the line, and to be able to race against Tony Stewart that way."
The 2011 season played out in fascinating fashion. Edwards was the points leader multiple times during that season, and he appeared to be the championship favorite after a third-place finish at Dover Motor Speedway in October.
However, Stewart turned in a late-season charge and won three of the final four races. He tied Edwards in points after the season finale but won the championship due to a tiebreaker.
"I read Tony's book before I got in the Cup Series. I studied Tony Stewart," Edwards said. "He's the guy that I watched, a lot of the tape and all that. To get to race him was fun.
"But when we got to the five or six races to go, and it was clear he was coming, Tony went full offense in the media."
As Edwards indicated, Stewart began using his comments to hype up the rivalry, especially when he called it a "war." He also said that he would wreck his mom to win the championship, which only ramped up the intensity.
The trash talk did not end with the pre-championship race press conference. Stewart used a rain delay during the finale to tell ESPN that he was "fixin' to keep delivering this whoopin'" to Edwards.
Of course, the rivalry was not as intense as Stewart made it appear to the public. Edwards told Earnhardt Jr. during the podcast appearance that Smoke had said that he was just messing with him during the 2011 season.
Edwards had two paths ahead of him in 2011. He could respond in kind and talk trash about Stewart in the media, or he could quietly go about his business and just try to win the title without any of the surrounding hoopla.
He initially wanted to match Stewart's level of intensity, but it was his wife, Kate, who convinced him to be himself and just go about his business.
"I'm going to do this the way that I want to do it," Edwards said. "I'm not going to say anything negative to Tony. I want to beat him, be the champion, shake his hands afterwards, and that's that. That's what I wanted so bad."
The finale from the 2011 season featured an intense battle between the two championship favorites. Edwards won the pole and led 119 laps. Stewart, for comparison, passed 118 cars while driving from the rear of the field twice and dealing with a hole in the grille of his No. 14.
Stewart then gambled on fuel strategy and then benefited from rain hitting the track, which allowed him to save just enough fuel under caution. He went on to win the race by making a three-wide pass after the final restart.
Edwards settled for second place in the race, in the championship standings, and the rivalry. Yet he still looks back fondly on the experience.