Sunday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway served up healthy portions of drama and excitement with the 2011 Chase being decided in a tie-breaker between Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards.

Stewart outdueled Edwards over the last 37 laps to win the rain-interrupted Ford 400 and tie Carl Edwards for the point lead. Stewart's five Chase wins was the deciding factor in claiming his third NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

"Thank the Lord for this one," Stewart said as rain began to fall during his victory celebration. "The man upstairs held this rain off just long enough for us to get this job done."

The Stewart-Haas team rallied to overcome problems early in the 267-lap race. Stewart visited pit road twice during the first caution to repair damage to the grill of the No. 14 Chevrolet before enduring three rain delays, including one that brought out the red flag for 74 minutes.

Edwards came up 1.306 seconds short at the line to finish second in the tight point battle.

“I gave it all I had, that’s as hard as I can drive that race car," Edwards said after starting from the pole and leading the most laps.

Martin Truex, Jr. finished third followed by Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton.

Stewart was presented a check for $5,662,800 for winning the 2011 Sprint Cup title and will be honored at the NASCAR Awards Banquet in Las Vegas on Friday, December 2nd.

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