Could anyone have written a better script? For 10 weeks, 2 drivers went at it for a championship. After nine races, only two were left to battle it out for the championship.
A heavyweight title fight was on between two of the greatest drivers in the modern era.
It was Tony Stewart against Carl Edwards, Ford against Chevy, Hendrick against Roush. There was no one sitting when this race was closing out. Every fan, whether in the stands or at home, were clinging with everything they had to decide a champion.
It took 267 laps, 400 miles, and one checkered flag to decide a champion...but even that wasn't enough to decide the winner. At the end of the race, both the drivers had the same amount of points, but the tie-breaker is what made the difference.
Fans longed to make wins mean more, and in the end that is what made the difference.
Edwards and Stewart ended the night each having 2403 points to their credit. But, Stewart had the tie-breaker, and he made sure everyone knew it.
Edwards led the most laps at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, but finished second. Stewart, putting an exclamation point on the best Chase performance by any driver, went out and won the race. That win was his fifth on the season, and thus giving him the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
It was a race that had everything a fan could want. Intense racing, lots of strategy, a little bit of rain, fuel mileage, and a title battle that led to a battle on the track.
Our writers finally met the end of the road in this race, as this meant they have come to the end of the Fan Vs. Fan Victory Pool for the season. After 36 races, the final points are tallied.
Take a look at the final standings following the Ford 400:
James Broomhead (2361) Jeff Burton finished 10th (3)
Michael Hirshbein (2356) Kevin Harvick finished eighth (6)
Rob Tiongson (2356) Carl Edwards finished second (4)
Misan Ayuka (2355) Kevin Harvick finished eighth (4)
Kelly Crandall (2345) Kasey Kahne finished seventh (5)
Kara Martin (2339) Kevin Harvick finished eighth (1)
Christopher Leone (2330) A.J. Allmendinger finished 15th (4)
Dustin Parks (2318) Greg Biffle finished 35th (1)
Billy Fellin (2313) Greg Biffle finished 35th (3)
Ryan O'Hara (2303) Denny Hamlin finished ninth (2)
Sal Sigala Jr. (2288) Kurt Busch finished 34th (5)
Your winner, and champion, of the inaugural Fan Vs. Fan Victory Pool is James Broomhead, from The Checkered Flag. He held the lead after last week at Phoenix, and despite a valiant effort by both Rob Tiongson and rookie Michael Hirshbein, Broomhead was able to hold off their pursuit with a 10th-place pick in Jeff Burton.
What an incredible season the 2011 campaign has been. From Trevor Bayne shocking the field at Daytona to Stewart out-performing everyone in the Chase, this year will go down as possibly the greatest battle in NASCAR's 63-year history.
Congrats to James Broomhead on his victory, and to all the writers involved in the Pool.
Major congrats to Tony Stewart and the entire Office Depot-Mobil 1 team on the most dominating performance in the Chase since it's inception.
And just think, now there is an off-season where everyone can rest up, and get to thinking about going after the title once again in 2012.
Everyone can now relax and spend the next 96 days to decide who they will pick for next year's champion. Or for that matter, decide who they may want to pick to win the Daytona 500.
For now, everyone just enjoy what has been an incredible 2011 season for NASCAR. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
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