Stewart wins by (literally) nothing

            HOMESTEAD, Fla. – One isn’t actually the loneliest number. It’s zero.

            Zero was Tony Stewart’s margin in the closest championship battle in NASCAR history. Zero was no margin at all.

            Try to tell Carl Edwards that.

            Edwards finished second for the third week in a row, and as a result, he finished second for the season. Two isn’t supposed to be lonely, but on Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it was. Two was the position of the first loser. The gentlemanly Edwards lost to the aggressive Stewart.

            During the latter of two rain delays, Stewart did exactly what he had been doing for a month. He talked smack. Then he delivered the smack he talked about.

            “We are fixing to wear him (Edwards) out,” Stewart said. “We get up there and get some more track position, and we’ve got a pretty good Chevy.We’ve been able to match his lap times, and we just have to hang in there with him. We’re going to make this interesting before it’s over if we haven’t already.”

            Edwards led 119 laps, nearly twice as many as Stewart. Stewart, however, led the final 36. Stewart didn’t pit when the race resumed under a yellow flag, and Stewart stayed on the track for track position, he never relinquished. For 33 of those final 36 laps Stewart led, Edwards was in second, but he could never get much closer than a second behind and crossed the finish line trailing by 1.306, which may not be much but was, yes, infinitely greater than Stewart’s wacky and extraordinary Chase margin of, uh, zero points.

            “At least we know we can compete with any of these people,” Edwards said. “We know we can compete with a three-time champion (Stewart) who wins five races in the Chase and still wind up with the same number of points as he got.”

            In the end, it was small consolation. No, it was cold consolation. Ruthless consolation.

            Stewart won the race. Edwards, who began the twice-rain-delayed Ford 400 three points ahead, finished second. They each finished with 2,403 points. Srewart won the championship by tie-breaker. He won five races. Edwards won only one.

            “Whether we won tonight or lost, tonight is the start of the next season,” Edwards rationalized. “I was prepared for anything. I knew this was a possibility. I told myself I’d walk back to that motor home, win, lose or draw, and be a good example for my kids. We’ll be better next season.”

            Edwards’ average finish in the Chase, 4.9, was better than any previous Chase (2004-present) champion but not enough to beat Stewart, who won more Chase races than anyone in history.

            Stewart overcame a lousy break at the beginning – a mysterious hole poked in the grille of his Chevy – and took advantage of a good break later, when he ran out of gas trying to stretch his run but benefited after rain brought the race to a halt for a while.

Monte Dutton; 704-869-1841; twitter.com/montedutton