Tony Stewart won his third championship in 2011, and no one has ever been more spectacular down the stretch. He won five of the final 10 races, the most ever since the Chase was implemented in 2004, and yet still won only by tie-breaker over Carl Edwards, who had the same number (2,403) of points.

Edwards has finished second or third three times now and has the best average finish, 4.9, of any driver in Chase history.

So who is the favorite for 2012? It's obvious, even though it's neither Stewart nor Edwards.

The favorite is the driver who won championships in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010: Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson finished sixth, 99 points behind Stewart and Edwards. It wasn't a championship season, but it wasn't bad, at least not by any standards other than those established by Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports crew chief, Chad Knaus.

"Highly motivated" was the way Johnson referred to himself at the Sprint Cup Awards Ceremonies in Las Vegas.

"Motivation comes easy for all of us," he said. "I know that question is asked a lot, but we just want to race, and if we're going to spend all the time to do all this, we want to be racing for the championship."

Johnson won five straight championships. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt have ever won more than five total. Can Johnson win eight and break the record?

"I want to believe in it," he said. "How long I can race into my career? I think there is a chance, I don't know how realistic that chance is, but I want to believe in it and think that I can."

Johnson paid tribute to Stewart, who became the first driver-owner to win a championship since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.

"I didn't think it was possible," Johnson said. "I don't think any of us felt that we would see it take place again or even get close to it. ... It's a huge feat that I think everybody wrote off and said would never happen again."

***Monte Dutton covers motorsports for The Gaston (N.C.) Gazette. E-mail Monte at nascarthisweek@yahoo.com.

(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.