Bowyer holds on to crown

Nationwide title his despite Edwards win

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Carl Edwards thwarted runner-up Kyle Busch from setting a Nationwide Series record for most victories by winning yesterday's Ford 300 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but Edwards was unable to prevent Clint Bowyer from winning the series championship by 21 points, the fourth-closest margin in series history.

After starting the 200-lap race on the outside pole alongside pole sitter Joey Logano of Middletown, Conn., Edwards led three times for 66 laps, including the last 34 in a row after he wrested the lead from Busch with a Turn 4 pass on Lap 167. It foiled Busch's attempt to capture a series-record 11th win of the season.

"That's a great win," gushed Edwards after recording his seventh Nationwide victory of the season. "To be able to hold off 18 [Busch], as strong as they are, that's a good race. I had a good time."

Bowyer, who entered the Nationwide season finale with a 56-point lead, finished fifth behind Edwards, who was seeking his second consecutive Nationwide Series championship. Bowyer fell behind in the championship standings by 14 points early in the race, but he vaulted two spots to third after a pit stop with 54 laps to go and navigated one last restart with four to go to deliver owner Richard Childress the championship.

"Man, it's just incredible," said Bowyer.

Unhappy Homestead

Although he is on the precipice of his first winless Sprint Cup campaign in 14 years, Jeff Gordon said it isn't "the end of the world." But Gordon will have a pretty good view of today's Chase finale, the Ford 400, as he starts from the 41st spot. It is his worst starting position of the season, at a track where he has never won - with the exception of the one and only Nationwide Series start he made here, Nov. 11, 2000, when he won after leading 72 laps. Since then, Gordon has gone 0 for Homestead in nine starts, recording four top fives, including a third in 2004. "I think if you look at how we've been performing the last five or six weeks, I think it's obvious just how bad we want it and how hard we're working and trying," said Gordon. "If it happens, it happens. You've got to earn wins in this series. They don't come easy."

Braun and brains

Overshadowed by Johnny Benson's stirring Craftsman Truck Series championship triumph in Friday night's Ford 200 was the 14th-place finish of Colin Braun, who captured Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. Braun, who finished the season with three top fives and eight top 10s, delivered Roush Fenway Racing its sixth rookie title in the truck series. "That was obviously the goal when we started the season out, so it's good to get that," Braun said . . . When NASCAR officials unfurl the green for today's race, a green car will lead the 43-car field to the start. Ford Motor Co. officials will roll out the first 2010 Fusion Hybrid, which is expected to deliver 700 miles of city driving per tank, for the start of the race before changing to the 263-horsepower Fusion Sport for the remainder of the race. "For Ford to come out with a hybrid version of the Fusion that's best-in-class in terms of fuel economy is really cool," said Edwards.