Edwards crashes out at Homestead with 10 laps left

Johnson led for a mere three laps on Sunday, but that was enough for the 41-year-old, who grew up driving motorcycles and off-road trucks, to etch his name alongside Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the most successful stock auto drivers of all time.

Logano finished fourth in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday afternoon. He wasn’t unnerved when his jackman slipped during a pit stop on Lap 69 or 50 laps later when the No. 48 exited 11th – and dropped 15 seconds behind the leaders.

It was also the final NASCAR race for three-time champion Tony Stewart, who is retiring. It was a fitting tribute to a driver (and team owner) who made a career out of giving the fans everything he had pretty much every lap of every race. “Jimmie had the most incredible moves and restarts at the end when it counted most and that is why those guys are seven time champions and proved it again tonight”. An extra pace lap was added before the race so that Stewart could be honored in front of the field.

Johnson probably had the worst auto of the four championship contenders at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but a odd sequence of events opened the track for him to take the title over Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and defending champion Kyle Busch. The impact sent Edwards bouncing between the inside and outside walls.

The race-defining incident came with 10 laps to go when Chase finalist Carl Edwards tried to block Logano on a restart, then got loose and his auto went flying into the wall. Kyle Larson finished second and Kevin Harvick third. After trading the lead back-and-forth with Edwards for several laps, Larson took command of the race when he took another lead from Edwards on lap 144.

Edwards was in position to win until a caution with 10 laps remaining set up a wild sequence that ruined his title hopes. The Penske Racing star couldn’t run down Jimmie Johnson on the final restart and would settle for his 16th Top 5 of the season.

Edwards took the blame for his wreck and he apologized to Logano’s team.

The benefactor of Edwards’ error, though, was Johnson, who had darted through the wreck ahead of Busch and Logano.

“I’m sure the world felt like anybody but Jimmie Johnson was going to win the championship with 20 [laps] to go”, said the victor.

He didn’t fret when NASCAR penalized the team for unapproved body modifications in pre-race inspection, forcing him to start the Ford EcoBoost 400 from the rear of the field.

“I feel like for me, that’s the safest environment for me to operate, knowing that there’s always that next goal that needs to be achieved, that next goal that needs to be accomplished, and keeping our guys in that mindset”, he said. But he then settled into a spot behind the leaders, worrying that he didn’t have anything better than a fifth-place vehicle.

Johnson needed just 47 laps to work his way into the top five.

“I felt like this was our race and our championship”, Edwards said.

Richard Petty knew this moment could happen.

Back home, concurrently, down at Homestead-Miami Speedway, something even more stunning and remarkable was happening. Seven caution flags in Sunday’s race, including a red flag caused by a wreck that knocked Carl Edwards out of Sprint Cup contention, he would finish in 34th.

And Jimmie Johnson absolutely belongs. Whichever of the foursome finishes highest wins it all. He described the responsibility as “shared” – in other words, two drivers racing for the same space.

This was not a race Johnson should have won. How else could Johnson have won a race Sunday when he looked to be the worst among the four Chase finalists for much of the event, causing crew chief Chad Knaus to drop a couple of choice curse words when trying to talk about what to do to the auto?