If you've watched NASCAR over the last five years, you've undoubtedly learned to never, ever, count Jimmie Johnson and his team out. Ever.

And even when the No. 48 bunch was officially eliminated from Chase contention before Sunday's Ford 400, that creeping feeling that Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus were lurking to hoist the Sprint Cup trophy for the sixth year in a row still existed.

But those impossible thoughts were put to bed for good Sunday as Johnson first hit pit road for an engine issue before the red flag for rain.

"I worked my way up there pretty good and was having some fun. (It's a) sad way to end the season but it is racing, we will come back next year," Johnson said on pit road during the rain delay after the engine problem eventually led to the team changing the carburetor.

Then, after the car had that new part, Johnson got loose in turns three and four and got tagged by David Gilliland. It was almost piling on at that point.

Sunday was a microcosm of Johnson's

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We always want to believe we're witnesses to history, that the moment in which we exist is one that will live on in memories and history books. (Well, history sites, anyway.) The temptation is to weigh the present more heavily against the past, to value our own times more than those of our parents and grandparents.

We get that, we do. But how can you possibly overestimate the value of a race like the one we all just witnessed? How do you overstate the significance of a race where the two best drivers of the season are the two best drivers on the track? Where one driver comes almost from last place to claim victory, and the other runs so well that there's only one way he could lose ... and does?

Simply put: the 2011 season finale at Homestead, in which Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards took one another to the very limits of their abilities, was one of the finest races in NASCAR history.

[ Photos: Check out all the best images from Homestead ]

The 1979 Daytona 500 had more influence on

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Austin Dillon won the 2011 Camping World Truck Series title by finishing 10th in the rain-shortened Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

His closest pursuer in the title chase, Johnny Sauter, won the race, which was stopped due to a rainstorm with 15 laps to go.

Dillon's title clinch was just a tad anticlimactic. As he prepared to be interviewed by SPEED during the rain delay, he received word that the race was over and that he had beaten Sauter by six points.

With 32 laps to go, Dillon restarted in second, but quickly fell to 15th after his truck couldn't get going. He was able to drive his way to 10th before the caution flag flew right after Denny Hamlin attempted to pass Sauter for the lead. Because Sauter was in the lead and eventually won, had Dillon slipped to 17th or further, Sauter would have been crowned the champion.

The rain-shortened race and the title circumstances around it do raise an interesting question: Should NASCAR have waited the rainstorm out?

The race was

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Even though the first three didn't stay very "secret" for very long, NASCAR has apparently tried a fourth secret fine.

According to an Associated Press report, Brad Keselowski was fined $25,000 last week for making comments about NASCAR's move to electronic fuel injection at a fan forum at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

From the AP:

The fine is believed to be $25,000.

"We're not doing this because it's better for the teams," Keselowski said last week during an appearance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame . "I don't think we're really going to save any gas. It's a media circus, trying to make you guys happy so you write good stories. It gives them something to promote. We're always looking for something to promote, but the honest answer is it does nothing for the sport except cost the team owners money.

"Cars on the street are injected with real electronics, not a throttle body (like in NASCAR). So we've managed to go from 50-year-old technology to 35-year-old technology. I don't see what

Before the green flag drops, one last video look at who's got the best chance to win at Homestead and take home the Sprint Cup championship, Carl Edwards or Tony Stewart. Who will it be? Join Yahoo! Sports' Jay Busbee and Ron Jeremy ... er, Jay Hart as they break down all the relevant details. Enjoy, and make your pick in the comments below.

Two of NASCAR's most intense competitors shared a stage on Thursday afternoon to talk up the upcoming decisive, Sprint Cup season-ending Homestead race, and it took only two questions for the blades to come out.

Tony Stewart, looking sunburnt, and Carl Edwards, looking more nervous than he ever has, sit only three points apart in the standings, and sat just three feet apart from each other in a South Beach tent. And after the initial, perfunctory "what's-your-mindset" questions, Stewart and Edwards got down to the big question: If they were running side by side, would one of them dump the other to take home the Cup?

Stewart, naturally, didn't miss a beat. "I'd wreck my mom to win a championship," he said. "I respect him as a driver, but this isn't about friendships this weekend. This is a war. This is for the national championship."

Edwards waited an extra beat, and then turned to Tony. "Did you say something?"

"You can come visit my trophy in the room at Vegas," Stewart shot back.

Oh, this is just sad. As Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart were preparing to face the media, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson was ... elsewhere:

b1117jimmieSomebody needs to find Jimmie on the streets of South Beach and buy him a beer. Or five.

b1117edwardsCarl Edwards and Tony Stewart are giving each other the psych-out. But what might they be saying to each other? You know, don't you? Have your say right here.

After the jump, the Joe Gibbs guys are having fun at Joey Logano's expense.

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Andy:
"Don't tell anyone I said this, Kyle, but watching a car drive in circles is boring."

Dick Smothers:
Kyle: "What's the #20 doing out there?"
Denny: "Logano is racing his shadow again."

FuriousD:
Moobs and Hamster watch as their "You have to finish the race if you are 20 laps down" joke stopped being funny 10 laps ago.

Timbt:
Kyle: What's up with Joey?
Denny: He heard about Reutimann and Ragan, so he thinks if he never parks, he won't be next.