Crew chief Mike Ford wasn't able to back up his claim that the No. 11 team is better than the No. 48 team. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

• Winning counts — Kevin Harvick’s average finish in the Chase was 5.8, to Johnson’s 6.2 and Hamlin’s 7.2. But Harvick finished third in the points because he had just three regular-season victories to Hamlin’s six and Johnson’s five, which meant he started the Chase 30 points behind Hamlin and 20 back of Johnson.

That said, it was a spectacular season for Harvick and the Richard Childress Racing squad, who this year burst back into title contention in a big way. And Harvick’s personality definitely injects some much-needed edginess into the discussion.

• Chase changes a virtual certainty — NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France hinted once again that the Chase format will be changed for 2011. Johnson’s victory pretty much guarantees that NASCAR will wind up with some type of elimination format where the top three guys will race for the title in the final two races of the season.

• The great puzzler — If you can explain to me how at age 25 Kyle Busch already has won 86 races in NASCAR’s top three divisions but has only won one of 60 Chase races he’s been in, you’re smarter than I am. You could even make the argument that Busch’s move in front of Harvick cost Hamlin his last shot at the title, since Harvick drilled Busch into the wall, which brought out a late-race caution that caught Hamlin a lap down.

Carl Edwards finished the NASCAR Sprint Cup season on a roll. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

• Bring on 2011 — Carl Edwards and his teammates at Roush Fenway Racing are probably more eager than anyone to get next season started. Halfway through the Chase, Edwards was seventh in points, Matt Kenseth was 11th and Biffle was eighth. After Edwards’ victory at Homestead, his second straight, he ended the year fourth in points with Kenseth fifth and Biffle sixth.

• On the money — If two weeks ago you had gone to Vegas and bet that Sebastian Vettel, John Force and Jimmie Johnson would all have championship trophies, you’d probably have made a boatload of money.

• Last but not least — Thanks, everyone, for a great season of racing. Happy holidays and enjoy the rest of the year. I can’t wait for 2011, either.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.