Cup - Homestead - Race results

21 November 2011

Tony Stewart has never in his life put in a drive quite so electrifying or as simply unstoppable as he did in Sunday's Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale.  He seemed possessed by the need to win this one race above all others - and with it, the 2011 championship over Carl Edwards. 

Stewart overcame a difficult early start to the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where damage to the #14's front end and radiator grille forced lengthy pit stops under cautions and dropped him to the back of the field on two separate occasions, but he recovered and fought his way back into the top five by the time an hour-long red flag came out because of rain. 

Having led for much of the early part of the race, polesitter Edwards then struggled to stay in touch as Stewart hit the lead.  A couple of sluggish pit stops for Stewart were balanced by stunning pace and some inspired, almost kamikaze moves including one four-wide move around Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch on his way back to the front. 

A potential fuel conservation finish was avoided by some late rain showers, leaving Stewart and Edwards to go head-to-head in a straight shoot-out for the win over the final 35 laps of the race.  But by this point Edwards had nothing to match Stewart's epic, inspired performance and Smoke pulled away to take the chequered flag and claim the championship - based on the tie breaker of most wins during the 36-race, 9-month-long season.