Stewart holds off Martin

Tony Stewart did just enough to clinch the NASCAR Winston Cup drivers' title on Sunday, finishing 18th in the season ending Ford 400 to fend off his only rival Mark Martin.

STANDINGS: Check out who finished where

Stewart, knowing he had to finish 22nd or better, won the championship with 4800 points, just 39 points clear of Martin, who turned in a valiant effort finishing fourth.

"Unbelievable, it was an ugly day...we never gave up," said the usually ice cold Stewart, tears welling up in his eyes. "I was so nervous I couldn't tell Zippy (crew chief Greg Zipadelli) what was wrong with the car.

"He made us competitive in the last 31 laps, but, it wasn't a piece of cake by any means."

Kurt Busch won the season finale at the Homestead Speedway mile and a half oval, finishing ahead of Joe Nemechek while Jeff Burton crossed third.

"We gave it everything we had but those guys were stronger," said Martin, who entered the final event of the gruelling 36 race series trailing Stewart by 89 points. "It just wasn't good enough."

The 400 mile race came down to the next-to-last caution on lap 228, when Ryan Newman, who was awarded NASCAR's Rookie of the year, took a risk by remaining on the track without changing tires and briefly held the lead.

With 11 laps to run polesitter Busch took the lead from Newman and easily pulled away for his third win in five races.

Stewart, rookie of the year in 1999, drives for Hall of Fame football coach, Joe Gibbs who also won the championship with team mate Bobby Labonte in 2000.