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1 2 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford
2 6 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
3 28 29 Kevin Harvick Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet
4 24 9 Aric Almirola Budweiser Ford
5 5 43 A J Allmendinger Insignia HDTV Ford
6 1 83 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota
7 23 39 Ryan Newman U.S.Army Chevrolet
8 31 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot / Old Spice Chevrolet
9 13 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford
10 27 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
11 25 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
12 17 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
13 18 12 Brad Keselowski No. 12 Penske Dodge
14 37 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota
15 4 21 Bill Elliott Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford
16 8 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
17 10 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
18 15 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
19 16 98 Paul Menard Mastercraft / Menards Ford
20 9 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
21 3 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
22 32 09 Bobby Labonte C & J Energy Chevrolet
23 41 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota
24 26 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge
25 38 37 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
26 20 47 Marcos Ambrose Clorox / Kleenex Toyota
27 22 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet
28 12 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Ford
29 35 71 Andy Lally Anderson’s Maple Syrup Chevrolet
30 42 7 Kevin Conway # ExtenZe Toyota
31 14 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
32 33 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota
33 34 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota
34 39 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver’s Ford
35 40 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
36 36 38 Dave Blaney A&W All American Food Ford
37 11 24 Jeff Gordon Dupont Chevrolet
38 7 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
39 19 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota
40 43 64 Landon Cassill Empire Steel Buildings Toyota
41 29 87 Joe Nemechek Young Eagles / HeatRedefined.com Toyota
42 21 36 J J Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
43 30 66 Mike Bliss PRISM Motorsports Toyota

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10TH TITLE: Hendrick Motorsports now is NASCAR’s all-time leader in NASCAR Sprint Cup owner championships with 10 after Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet team earned their fifth consecutive series title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports previously was tied with Petty Enterprises, which earned nine Cup owner championships.

THE OTHER GUYS: With its fifth straight championship, Hendrick Motorsports becomes one of just four teams in major American professional sports to have scored five or more titles consecutively. The Boston Celtics posted eight NBA titles in a row starting with the 1958-59 season and ending in 1965-66. Hendrick now is tied with the New York Yankees, which earned five World Series rings from 1949-53, and the Montreal Canadiens, which scored five Stanley Cups from 1956-60.

COMPARISONS: In the major American professional sports leagues, Hendrick Motorsports’ 10 total Sprint Cup owner championships are tied for eighth behind the New York Yankees (27 World Series titles), Montreal Canadiens (24 Stanley Cups), Boston Celtics (17 NBA titles), Los Angeles Lakers (16 NBA titles), Toronto Maple Leafs (13 Stanley Cups), Green Bay Packers (12 NFL championships) and Detroit Red Wings (11 Stanley Cups). The St. Louis Cardinals own 10 World Series titles.

ALL-TIME CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2010 Sprint Cup car owner championship is the 13th for Hendrick Motorsports across NASCAR’s three national series, extending the team’s all-time record. Richard Childress Racing ranks second among owners with 11 combined titles. In the car owner category, Hendrick has won 10 titles in the Sprint Cup Series and three in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Hendrick Motorsports also has won a NASCAR Nationwide Series driver championship, which came in 2003.

KNAUS SETS THE STANDARD: Chad Knaus is the only crew chief ever to win more than two consecutive Sprint Cup titles (he now has five in a row), and his championship total (also five) ranks him second all-time among crew chiefs in NASCAR history. Only Dale Inman (eight titles) has more.

FIVE-PEAT: Johnson is the first driver in NASCAR history to capture five straight Sprint Cup titles and the first champion in the Chase format to overcome a points deficit going into the final event. Johnson, however, is not the first driver ever to come back and win a championship. Most recently, Alan Kulwicki rallied from 30 points down going in to the 1992 season finale to win it all.

TWO TO GO: With a fifth title, Johnson breaks a tie with teammate Jeff Gordon to become the Sprint Cup championship leader among active drivers and third all-time. Johnson is two titles shy of NASCAR’s all-time leaders, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, who scored seven apiece during their Hall of Fame careers.

DRIVE FOR FIVE: Winning five straight championships is a first for Hendrick Motorsports, which previously was the only NASCAR team to have achieved four titles consecutively. In addition to Johnson’s 2006-10 run, Hendrick scored four in a row with Gordon (1995, 1997 and 1998) and Terry Labonte (1996). No other team has won more than three Sprint Cup championships in consecutive seasons.

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Johnson isn’t the first driver in motor sports this year to come back from a points deficit and capture the series championship in the season finale. John Force (NHRA Funny Car), Sebastian Vettel (F1) and Dario Franchitti (IndyCar) join Johnson in coming from behind to capture their series championships in the final race of the season. Force trailed first by 37 points going into the Nov. 14 finale, when he rallied to win his 15th Funny Car title. Vettel made up 15 points in F1’s season finale on Nov. 14, while Franchitti overcame a 12-point deficit on Oct. 2 to capture the IndyCar championship in the last race of the season.

WINNING PERCENTAGE: Hendrick Motorsports is the most efficient team in major American professional sports, earning 10 titles since its inception in 1984 for a 37.04 all-time title-winning percentage. The Celtics rank second with 17 titles in 65 seasons (26.15 percent), while the Yankees are third with 27 World Series championships in 107 seasons (25.23 percent). Hendrick has won 10 of the last 16 Sprint Cup championships (1995-2010), putting the team’s title-winning percentage during that span at 62.5.

SINCE 1984: No other major American professional sports team has earned more championships than Hendrick Motorsports since 1984, the organization’s inaugural season. In that time, the Los Angeles Lakers have earned eight championships and the Chicago Bulls have collected six titles. The New York Yankees and Edmonton Oilers have scored five titles apiece.

STILL ROLLING: Hendrick Motorsports never has run a Sprint Cup campaign without winning a pole position (1984-2010). The team scored five this season, including two from Johnson.

APPROACHING 200: Hendrick Motorsports has posted at least one Cup-level win in 25 straight seasons (194 victories from 1986-2010), the longest active streak in NASCAR. The streak began Feb. 16, 1986, when Geoff Bodine won Hendrick’s first Daytona 500.

ANOTHER ONE FOR CHEVY: Chevrolet captured its 34th Sprint Cup manufacturers’ championship this season after winning 18 races. Johnson led all Chevy drivers with seven victories.

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RACE RECAP | HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY

10 Greg Biffle
9 Matt Kenseth
8 Tony Stewart
7 Ryan Newman
6 Kasey Kahne
5 A.J. Allmendinger
4 Aric Almirola
3 Kevin Harvick finished 3rd in points (-41)
2 Jimmie Johnson is the 2010 Sprint Cup Series Champion

-It’s Johnson’s 5th straight title
-He had to come from behind to win this one
-No driver has ever won 5 straight
-He leads all active drivers with the most championships
-10th championship for Hendrick Motorsports

VICTORY LANE

1 Carl Edwards led the most laps and wins his second race in a row after not winning since 2008.

OTHER STORIES ON THE DAY

-Denny Hamlin went for a wild ride in the backstretch grass after running into Greg Biffle. He later had a tire going down and pitted. Denny finished 14th and 2nd in the point standings (-39)

-Jeff Burton pounded the wall hard, sending him the garage

-Kevin Harvick made his way to the front only to get caught speeding on pit road

-The engine expired on the 24 of Jeff Gordon

-Jimmie Johnson’s pit crew had less than stellar stops all day

-Kevin Harvick dumped Kyle Busch with about 22 laps to go, the 18 caught fire and Kyle is okay

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By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 20, 2010)

HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Kyle Busch pulled away from Kevin Harvick during a 23-lap run to the finish to win Saturday’s Ford 300 Nationwide Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Harvick ran second, followed by 2010 series champion Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne.

With his 13th victory in 29 starts this season, Busch extended his single-season win record. The victory was his 43rd in the Nationwide Series, leaving him five behind all-time leader Mark Martin.

Danica Patrick qualified fifth, pitted early and led four laps—her first of the season—by staying out while others pitted under caution on Lap 24. Soon after a restart on Lap 28, however, she dropped back to 21st in the running order. She finished a career-best 19th in her 13th start in the series.

After winning the owners championship in his own No. 18 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Friday night, Busch secured the Nationwide owners’ title for Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday. Stenhouse clinched Raybestos rookie of the year honors.

Notes: Keselowski scored his 26th top-five finish of the year, a single-season record. … The victory was Gibbs’ 49th in the past three seasons. Busch has 31 of those. … Busch led 153 of 200 laps.