Tony Stewart has won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup, defeating Carl Edwards in a winner-take-all finale at Homestead-Miami.
In a fascinating, rain-affected race, Stewart took a tense victory over Edwards in a classic end to the NASCAR season.
It is Stewart’s third NASCAR title.
The pair ended the title on equal points, with Stewart winning the series on a countback.
Stewart became the first owner driver to win the crown since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.
Stewart had to fight against the odds to take the win. He sustained damage from debris in the early stages of the race, and pit road issues also dropped him down the order.
In the latter stages of the race, Stewart and Edwards drove away from the rest of the field in their dice for the title, proving that they are head and shoulders above the rest of the field in 2011.
The win ends the reigning of five-time champion Jimmie Johnson who has won the past five NASCAR Sprint Cup titles.
Martin truex Jr finished third ahead of Matt Kenseth, jeff Gordon, Clint Boyer, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton.
Australian Marcos Ambrose was classified 39th having only completed 72 laps of the race due to engine failure.
See below for the full race result
|
FIN |
ST |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 | 15 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 47/1 | 267 | Running |
| 2 | 1 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 44/2 | 267 | Running |
| 3 | 2 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 42/1 | 267 | Running |
| 4 | 6 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal | 41/1 | 267 | Running |
| 5 | 7 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 40/1 | 267 | Running |
| 6 | 17 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Cheerios | 38/0 | 267 | Running |
| 7 | 3 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 37/0 | 267 | Running |
| 8 | 21 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 37/1 | 267 | Running |
| 9 | 10 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 35/0 | 267 | Running |
| 10 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 35/1 | 267 | Running |
| 11 | 11 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard | 33/0 | 267 | Running |
| 12 | 14 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 32/0 | 267 | Running |
| 13 | 16 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 31/0 | 267 | Running |
| 14 | 26 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker | 30/0 | 267 | Running |
| 15 | 12 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Best Buy | 29/0 | 267 | Running |
| 16 | 23 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Duracell / Menards | 28/0 | 267 | Running |
| 17 | 24 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 27/0 | 267 | Running |
| 18 | 28 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 26/0 | 267 | Running |
| 19 | 32 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 25/0 | 267 | Running |
| 20 | 5 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 25/1 | 267 | Running |
| 21 | 43 | Mike Bliss | Ford | School Media | 0 | 267 | Running |
| 22 | 40 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 0 | 267 | Running |
| 23 | 19 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Interstate Batteries | 22/1 | 267 | Running |
| 24 | 25 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 20/0 | 267 | Running |
| 25 | 20 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft | 0 | 267 | Running |
| 26 | 39 | Casey Mears | Toyota | Hard Rock Vodka | 18/0 | 267 | Running |
| 27 | 35 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Reese Towpower | 17/0 | 267 | Running |
| 28 | 34 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Big Red | 16/0 | 265 | Running |
| 29 | 41 | T.J. Bell * | Ford | Green Smoke | 0 | 265 | Running |
| 30 | 42 | Geoffrey Bodine | Chevrolet | Luke & Associates | 14/0 | 263 | Running |
| 31 | 27 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 14/1 | 261 | Running |
| 32 | 9 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 13/1 | 261 | Running |
| 33 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 12/1 | 245 | Running |
| 34 | 4 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 10/0 | 220 | Running |
| 35 | 8 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M Novec | 10/1 | 190 | Out of Race |
| 36 | 22 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Thank A Teacher Today | 0 | 153 | Running |
| 37 | 29 | Cole Whitt | Toyota | Kangaroo Express | 0 | 153 | Running |
| 38 | 13 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS My Choice | 6/0 | 81 | Out of Race |
| 39 | 18 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 5/0 | 72 | Out of Race |
| 40 | 37 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com | 0 | 29 | In Pit |
| 41 | 30 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | Ingersoll Rand | 3/0 | 25 | In Pit |
| 42 | 36 | David Stremme | Chevrolet | Inception Motorsports | 2/0 | 14 | In Pit |
| 43 | 33 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | HP Racing LLC | 1/0 | 13 | In Pit |
See below for the final points standings
|
RANK |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
| 1 | Tony Stewart | 2403 |
| 2 | Carl Edwards | 2403 |
| 3 | Kevin Harvick | 2345 |
| 4 | Matt Kenseth | 2330 |
| 5 | Brad Keselowski | 2319 |
| 6 | Jimmie Johnson | 2304 |
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2290 |
| 8 | Jeff Gordon | 2287 |
| 9 | Denny Hamlin | 2284 |
| 10 | Ryan Newman | 2284 |
| 11 | Kurt Busch | 2262 |
| 12 | Kyle Busch | 2246 |
| 13 | Clint Bowyer | 1047 |
| 14 | Kasey Kahne | 1041 |
| 15 | A.J. Allmendinger | 1013 |
| 16 | Greg Biffle | 997 |
| 17 | Paul Menard | 947 |
| 18 | Martin Truex Jr. | 937 |
| 19 | Marcos Ambrose | 936 |
| 20 | Jeff Burton | 935 |
| 21 | Juan Montoya | 932 |
| 22 | Mark Martin | 930 |
| 23 | David Ragan | 906 |
| 24 | Joey Logano | 902 |
| 25 | Brian Vickers | 846 |
| 26 | Regan Smith | 820 |
| 27 | Jamie McMurray | 795 |
| 28 | David Reutimann | 757 |
| 29 | Bobby Labonte | 670 |
| 30 | David Gilliland | 572 |
| 31 | Casey Mears | 541 |
| 32 | Dave Blaney | 508 |
| 33 | Andy Lally* | 398 |
| 34 | Robby Gordon | 268 |
| 35 | J.J. Yeley | 192 |
| 36 | Michael McDowell | 139 |
| 37 | Tony Raines | 129 |
| 38 | Ken Schrader | 110 |
| 39 | Terry Labonte | 102 |
| 40 | Bill Elliott | 100 |
| 41 | David Stremme | 80 |
| 42 | Michael Waltrip | 56 |
| 43 | Boris Said | 38 |
| 44 | Geoffrey Bodine | 33 |
| 45 | Stephen Leicht | 20 |
| 46 | Andy Pilgrim | 18 |
| 47 | Chris Cook | 17 |
| 48 | T.J. Bell* | 14 |
| 49 | Brian Simo | 11 |
| 50 | Brian Keselowski* | 3 |
| 51 | Erik Darnell | 2 |
| 52 | Steve Park | 2 |
| 53 | Trevor Bayne | 0 |
| 54 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 |
| 55 | Landon Cassill | 0 |
| 56 | Travis Kvapil | 0 |
| 57 | Steve Wallace | 0 |
| 58 | Mike Bliss | 0 |
| 59 | Mike Skinner | 0 |
| 60 | Cole Whitt | 0 |
| 61 | Austin Dillon | 0 |
| 62 | Hermie Sadler | 0 |
| 63 | Scott Wimmer | 0 |
| 64 | David Starr | 0 |
| 65 | Ron Fellows | 0 |
| 66 | Joe Nemechek | 0 |
| 67 | Patrick Carpentier | 0 |
| 68 | Scott Speed | 0 |
| 69 | Jason White | 0 |
| 70 | Andrew Ranger | 0 |
| 71 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 0 |
| 72 | Reed Sorenson | 0 |
| 73 | Johnny Sauter | 0 |
| 74 | Josh Wise | 0 |
| 75 | Todd Bodine | 0 |
| 76 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 0 |
| 77 | Dennis Setzer | 0 |
| 78 | Scott Riggs | 0 |
| 79 | P.J. Jones | 0 |
| 80 | Jeff Green | 0 |
| 81 | Kevin Conway | 0 |
| 82 | Tony Ave | 0 |
| 83 | Derrike Cope | 0 |
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