Topic summary
2011 Ford 400
The 2011 Ford 400, the 13th running of the event, was a stock car race that was held on November 20, 2011, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The race, which lasted 267 laps, was the thirty-sixth of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the tenth and final race of the season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup. Tony Stewart of the Stewart–Haas Racing team won the race from the fifteenth starting position. Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards finished second, and Martin Truex Jr. came in third for Michael Waltrip Racing.
Before the race, Stewart trailed Edwards by three points in the Drivers' Championship. Edwards won the pole position by recording the fastest lap time of qualifying and dominated the race, leading more laps than anyone else (119). Meanwhile, Stewart started in 15th and was relegated to the back of the field several times because of grille damage and slow pit stops. However, this did not deter Stewart, as he was able to make up the positions he lost and took the lead for the first time on lap 123. During a cycle of green-flag pit stops, Edwards came in for two tires on lap 201, while Stewart remained on-track for ten more laps in order to avoid pitting for the remainder of the race; he gained four fresh tires. A caution flag for brief rainfall forced Edwards to pit once more to top off on fuel. Although Edwards made his way up to second on the final restart, he was unable to overtake Stewart, who won the race.
There were eight cautions and a track record-breaking 26 lead changes between 15 drivers. Stewart's victory was the fifth of the season and the 44th of his career. It additionally earned him his third (and final) Drivers' Championship and the first title for Stewart–Haas Racing because of a tiebreaker that was determined by a countback of wins in the season. Behind the two title contenders, Kevin Harvick maintained third place and Matt Kenseth displaced Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson for fourth place. The race attracted nearly seven million television viewers and is considered to be one of the best championship-deciding races in NASCAR history.