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Old System At A Glance: Edwards Clinches 2nd Title Following Phoenix.

The truth cannot be held back. Jimmie Johnson has been the best driver in NASCAR since his rookie season. No one has really matched his statistics.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]Johnson entered the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2002 and finished 5th in points during his first year. He followed that up with two consecutive runner-up finishes in the points to both Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon respectively. He was on his way to make it 3 in a row in 2005, but a wreck at the season finale in Homestead left him 5th in points.

He won the title in 2006 over Matt Kenseth by just 4 points. He was unable to make it two in a row in 2007 because Jeff Gordon took his sixth title by well over 300 points, but he came back in 2008 to just fall short to Carl Edwards by 16 points. Johnson won his second title in 2009, beating Jeff Gordon by 66 points. In 2010, he was bested by Kevin Harvick by over 285 points.

Now as we approach the end of 2011 tomorrow afternoon at Homestead, it looks like Jimmie Johnson will keep his runner-up position as Carl Edwards as already clinched the championship after a 2nd place run at Phoenix. Johnson finished the race in 14th.

If Johnson does keep his 2nd place position in the standings following Sunday, it would be the 6th time in Johnson’s career that he would finish runner-up. If all of those runner-up finishes were championships, Johnson would have eight championships and be the clear KING of NASCAR.

Now, we will go through the top-10 in the standings as they stand coming into Homestead.

1.Carl Edwards – 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion
2.Jimmie Johnson – 2 Time Sprint Cup Series Champion
3.Kevin Harvick – 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion
4.Tony Stewart – 2 Time Sprint Cup Series Champion
5.Matt Kenseth – 2003 Champion
6.Jeff Gordon – 6 Time Champion
7.Kyle Busch – Not The Most Popular Driver
8.Kurt Busch – Older Brother not so much either.
9.Ryan Newman – Mr. Take
10.Brad Keselowski -Welcome to the big show, Brad.

Thank you for playing NASCAR with us this season.

Keselowski wins; Stenhouse Jr. wins NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship

Brad Keselowski held off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carl Edwards on the final laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway to capture his fifth win of the season and the 17th of his NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) career.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”213″][/media-credit]“You couldn’t ask for a better way to end the season. Not being able to win the championship, it’s good to be able to finish on a high note, winning the pole and the race today at Homestead. It’s a great exclamation point to the season for the whole Discount Tire Dodge team.” Keselowski said.

But the race had a even better ending for Roush Fenway Racing and Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing won the owners’ championship with Edwards’ third place finish and Stenhouse Jr. won the series championship with his second place finish.  This is also the third NNS title for Ford Racing and the 12th driver’s championship.

“The Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargill Mustang did its job at Ford Championship Weekend – Nationwide Insurance – this is a dream come true.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

“My family sacrificed everything they had. My sister didn’t quite get everything that she’s ever wanted. We were racing as much as we could and to do that for them, he taught me hard work and to never give up. I wish my granddad was here. He helped us out a lot through the go-kart days and worked on our cars. We had a lot of fun doing that. I wish he was here, but this is an awesome night.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

Stenhouse Jr. and Edwards celebrated by parking nose to nose on the frontstretch and doing a duel burnout.

“First, congratulations to Ricky and all the Blackwell Angus Beef folks. Ricky has come so far and I think he’s gonna be a champion in a bunch of levels of this sport. That was huge and my guys have done a great job all year.  Eight wins and we’re so proud to have Fastenal on board.” Edwards said. “Ford has been great. It’s Ford Championship Weekend and we wrapped up the drivers and the owners and that was huge. Valvoline and NextGen, Wiley X and all these fans that are here, this is cool. It did get pretty exciting there at the end. I had to remember, ‘Hey, don’t screw this up,’ and Brad started blocking a little bit and I thought, ‘Well, if he’s gonna block, I’m gonna bump him,’ and then I bumped him and it helped him and hurt me.”

Jack Roush is looking to become the first owner in NASCAR history to win both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series championships in the same season.

Clint Bowyer finished fourth and Denny Hamlin finished fifth. Elliott Sadler struggled with two pit stop penalties but battled back to finish sixth and finished second in the series standings, 45 points out.

Unofficial Race Results
Ford 300, Homestead-Miami Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=34
=========================================
Pos. No. Driver Make Points
=========================================
1 1 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 0
2 4 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 43
3 3 60 Carl Edwards Ford 0
4 6 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 0
5 7 18 Denny Hamlin Toyota 0
6 2 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 39
7 13 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 38
8 10 88 Aric Almirola Chevrolet 36
9 11 11 Brian Scott Toyota 35
10 9 20 Joey Logano Toyota 0
11 8 16 Trevor Bayne Ford 34
12 14 38 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 32
13 5 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 31
14 19 32 James Buescher Chevrolet 0
15 21 70 David Stremme Chevrolet 0
16 22 97 Joe Nemechek Toyota 28
17 17 19 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 27
18 29 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 26
19 15 62 Michael Annett Toyota 26
20 31 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 24
21 33 15 Timmy Hill * Ford 23
22 37 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 22
23 18 81 Blake Koch * Chevrolet 21
24 35 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 0
25 23 182 Reed Sorenson Dodge 19
26 36 87 Kevin Conway Toyota 0
27 20 104 Casey Roderick Ford 17
28 40 40 T.J. Duke Chevrolet 0
29 34 14 Eric McClure Chevrolet 15
30 42 28 Derrike Cope Dodge 14
31 32 141 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 13
32 12 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 12
33 16 9 Kenny Wallace Toyota 11
34 27 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 10
35 41 52 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet 9
36 24 167 Andrew Ranger Ford 8
37 30 103 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 7
38 43 146 Chase Miller Chevrolet 6
39 25 147 Josh Wise Chevrolet 5
40 28 171 Matthew Carter Chevrolet 4
41 26 142 Scott Speed Chevrolet 3
42 38 39 Fain Skinner Ford 2
43 39 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 1

Ford 300 Nationwide Quotes