The point scenarios entering Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway were simple: Carl Edwards, leader by three, and Tony Stewart had no comfort in their finishing positions, unless they won the season’s final race. What seemingly everyone that loves racing dreams of happening in a points championship happened Sunday evening. What seemed plausible as the battle between Edwards and Stewart played to a tee even more than one could dream.

Carl Edwards’ No. 99 team was dialed in all weekend. They were fast in both practice sessions, won the pole, had the best stall location on pit road, and had won two of the last three races at Homestead. Edwards, seeking his first career title in his seventh full-time Cup season, would certainly be a top contender in the race – everything on paper said that. Stewart, meanwhile, was somewhere between mediocre and bad in both practices, qualified 15^th, and had only decent numbers at the South Florida track in comparison to Edwards. But the No. 14 team of Stewart’s had something that Edwards’ team did not.

Who knows if momentum is a media-generated cliché, but Stewart, who often chastises the media for contrived and predictable behavior, solidified the presence of Big Mo’ all Chase-long. He was winless for nearly a year entering the Chase, barely making the sport’s playoffs after season-long lackluster results. But the No. 14 “stole” two wins by stretching his fuel mileage to open the Chase at Chicagoland and New Hampshire. The energy wore off, as Stewart could not get out of his own way at Dover (25^th) and came up short the next week at Kansas Speedway (15^th). Stewart and crew chief Darian Grubb, who likely will not be with the team next season, dusted their shoulders off and started notching good runs at Charlotte and Talladega (8^th and 7^th), before winning two more races at Martinsville and Texas. A 3^rd place finish at Phoenix left Stewart just three points short of Edwards, the points leader.

Edwards won early in the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and his Bob Osborne-led No. 99 team was one of the most consistent all year, including 18 top 5s entering Sunday’s race. But the one thing that seemed to elude Edwards all year was that last stroke of luck – that last push that drove him to Victory Lane. He could not pull the pass on Trevor Bayne in the final seconds of the Daytona 500 or drive past Regan Smith on the final restart of the Southern 500 at Darlington in May. He has been kind of like Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential race – always consistently near the front, but never quite the frontrunner. (Granted, Edwards did manage to win eight Nationwide races this season, en route to an owner’s championship for Jack Roush’s No. 60 Ford). This extra push to get to Victory Lane would be needed more than anything to win the championship, as that drive was the wind in Tony Stewart’s back the entire Chase.

The Chase had been more than a mild wave of good showings for Edwards. He finished 4^th and 8^th to start the Chase and then overcame big struggles to notch a 3^rd at Dover. He survived Talladega in 11^th, his worst Chase showing, and came back from being a lap down to drive to 9^th at Martinsville. All of the team’s runs were championship-quality and should have been enough for a Sprint Cup title. Nothing was a given, however, as the two-driver championship showdown took to South Beach.

Edwards did what he needed to do in the Ford 400 all race-long: he led the first lap, led the most laps, made up spots on the racetrack that he lost on pit road, and did not force any errors. He did not speed in the pits or spin on the track. He raced hard and clean and for maximum points, knowing he needed to stay in front of Stewart. Stewart had other plans.

Almost as soon as the green flag dropped, Kurt Busch (a past Stewart foe) broke a transmission, a piece of which damaged Stewart’s front grille and fender. That first caution flag allowed the No. 14 team enough time to pit the Office Depot Chevy, diagnose the problems, and concoct a solution. The next caution flag for rain, which fell after Stewart had made up over 20 positions in a handful of green flag laps, gave the team enough time to fashion a new grille on the car. If the piece had hit the car differently, it could have broken a radiator and ended Stewart’s day. If it had hit to the left or right, it could have cut a tire, caused Stewart to hit the wall, or damaged the fenders beyond repair. But this team accepted good fate, made the repair, and allowed Stewart to set sail for the front yet again. And that he did.

Stewart drove like a bat out of hell all race-long. He told reporters again and again that his team had nothing to lose. They entered the Chase tied for last and an afterthought as title contenders. The worst position they could finish in the points Sunday was 2^nd…and they went for it. Having to make up a couple of dozen positions to catch up to Edwards, Stewart routinely passed cars three-wide on restarts, jutted to the inside and outside of competitors, lining them up and picking them off. He surged into the top 10 and then the top 5. He caught Edwards on one restart and gave him a nudge as he darted inside to pass him. He raced with the same attitude he possessed in each of his recent interviews and sound bites: “I’m here and I’m coming to get you no matter what…watch out!”

Stewart overcame an extremely slow late pit stop to yet again get even with Edwards near the front and as the final stops began to roll, Grubb held Stewart out of the pits until they were within their final fuel window – meaning they would be able to end the race on their final tank of gas, while other teams (like Edwards’) would have to pit again. But another caution for rain would foil that plan and leave Edwards and Stewart on the same pit sequence…and very close to each other…when the race would begin again.

And when it did, Stewart drove past Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski to the lead, while Edwards spent very little time rising to the 2^nd spot. But that was as far as he would get. Lapped traffic they both encountered did little to eat into Stewart’s advantage, which grew as high as 1.5 seconds and got as low as .9 seconds in the closing laps. Edwards led the most laps Sunday, but unlike Alan Kulwicki’s strategic most laps led-runner-up finish in the 1992 Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway that won him his only championship, Edwards efforts would not be enough to win his. Stewart’s three bonus points for winning the race would bring him to a tie with Edwards for the points lead at the checkered flag. And the tie-breaker? Stewart’s five wins to Edwards’ one.

Stewart takes his 3^rd-career championship and ends Jimmie Johnson’s era of five-straight Sprint Cups. Johnson’s feat, while talented and dominant, never seemed to resonate with fans. While the No. 48 team often won a bunch, they became more known for doing just enough at the right times and being just good enough to outlast the competition. With Chad Knaus on the pit box and plenty of funding and good people building the cars, the No. 48 team and Johnson seemed as if they were supposed to win…like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, or Philadelphia Phillies. Stewart’s championship seems different.

While Stewart has the same amount of precision as Johnson behind the scenes (Stewart Haas Racing is a Hendrick Motorsports satellite team), his Herculean 2011 effort overshadows those characteristics. Stewart trumped stats and strategy to seemingly will his car to victory in each race he won. Grubb’s strategies backed this up, but, in the end, Stewart’s will and prowess trumped and equal amount of strategy and good equipment on Edwards’ Roush Fenway Racing team. Stewart’s most recent two championships (2002 and 2011) bookend Johnson’s most dominant run in major motorsports history. And Stewart’s St. Louis Cardinals-like come-from-behind victories and championship will resonate with a fan base that is trying itself to recover from individual personal setbacks and the overall lag in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series that has lost some pizzazz in recent years.

And Stewart’s battle one-on-one with Edwards is one for the books. They finished one-two at Texas and two-three at Phoenix, only to go one-two again in the Homestead-Miami race for the money. Edwards remained calm and patient, but came just short of the goal line. Always gracious and thankful to his fans, team, owner, sponsors, and family, Edwards embodies the Richard Petty-like humility and non-sense of entitlement that fans crave from a battery of drivers that tends more to the opposite. And when he finally lost his best chance to date at a Sprint Cup title, Edwards looked heartbroken and on the verge of tears. But instead of pouting and storming away to his hauler, he found Stewart, congratulated him, and hoped aloud that they would have the chance to do this again next season, Meanwhile, Stewart gave props to Edwards in Victory Lane, a driver that he raced hard, but respectfully within the bounds with all Chase-long.

Stewart has come a long way as a driver and a person. He still is abrasive, but much less so than in his younger days. He is just gracious enough, but just edgy enough to remain one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers. Edwards’ sportsmanship and Tim Tebow-like heart and encouragement to his team are also exemplary efforts that surely gained him fans. The characteristics of both, in victory and defeat, offer a polite juxtaposition to some of the darker moments this NASCAR season (see: Busch brothers – who, by the way, finished 11^th and 12^th in points and will not be on-stage at the Cup banquet in their hometown). The new winners, flared-up rivalries, and exciting racing all season accompany one of the most exciting points races in history to cap an exciting 2011 for NASCAR racing. Stewart turns a new page in the history books and maybe swings an entrenched attitude and vibe in the sport in another, better direction. At least, we hope. 

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Be sure and listen to Captain Herb Emory, Jason Durden, and me on the Allan Vigil Ford Lincoln Speedshop, for the show's final regular installment, on Saturday from the end of the Bulldogs game (about 6 p.m.) until 8 p.m.,  on AM-750 and NOW 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB. Feel free to comment on what you see and hear anytime on this blog. 

On Saturday, December 3rd, join Capt. Herb, Jason Durden, Mark Arum, myself and many more at Fred's BBQ House (Thornton Rd./Hwy. 6 about one mile north of I-20) for our annual U.S. Marine's Toys for Tots broadcast. Bring an unused, unwrapped toy or a donation to support this great charity, come meet WSB radio personalities, and come see all sorts of great exhibits. There will be NASCAR racecars, short track racecars and racers, the GBI bomb squad, and lots of giveaways. This all kicks off just before lunchtime and lasts into the afternoon. Come on down! 

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