In honor of Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards fighting it out for the 2011 Sprint Cup championship, we look back on the 2005 Ford 400 when Stewart defeated race winner Greg Biffle, along with Edwards, Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson to capture his second NASCAR title in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Stewart had a very good summer run that saw him win both road course races at Infineon and Watkins Glen, as well as a dominating performance at Daytona and his first Brickyard victory. Biffle also had a season to remember as he was able to win five races within the first couple months of the season including Darlington and the always challenging Dover International Speedway. Edwards in his first full season at Roush, not only was able to win four races but also was in contention for the 2005 championship.

Tony Stewart arrived in Homestead with a 52 point lead over Jimmie Johnson, while Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle were 87 and 102 points back. Realistically Jimmie had the only chance as Edwards and Biffle needed more than a win to have a shot.

Carl Edwards started his bid with a pole winning qualifying lap of 176.051 mph while Biffle started seventh and Stewart, who needed to finish ninth or better to clinch the title qualified 20th. Jimmie Johnson qualified 32nd.

Carl Edwards picked up a five point bonus for leading lap one before giving way to Ryan Newman. Jeff Gordon took over on lap 31 and those three dominated the first half of the race. Stewart and Johnson stayed glued together as they raced in the middle of the pack while Edwards continued to lead.

Johnson’s handling went away and on lap 125 the No. 48 had a right rear tire go flat ending his chances of catching Stewart. In the end it was a pretty clean race that saw 21 lead changes, a great championship battle and a race that wasn’t decided until the last lap.

Casey Mears led on the final restart with eleven laps to go with Mark Martin second. Edwards was 12th in line after taking on four tires. Biffle passed Martin for the lead and held .017 second margin at the finish line.

Kenseth, Edwards and Mears completed the top five.

Stewart’s 15th place finish earned him his second Sprint Cup Series title after winning it for the first time in 2002.

"I put the team through a lot of hell ever since I've been with them but they never gave up on me," Stewart said. "Zippy didn't want to win it the way we did in 2002. It was nice to do it and do it right."

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