Homestead, FL (Sports Network) - Jimmie Johnson's dynasty in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series continues after he clinched his record-extending fifth consecutive championship with a second-place finish in Sunday's season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Despite a couple of lengthy pit stops in the early going, Johnson finished behind race winner Carl Edwards and captured the Sprint Cup title by 39 points over Denny Hamlin, who finished 14th.

Johnson entered the 400-mile race at Homestead 15 points behind Hamlin. He became the first driver in the seven-year history of the championship Chase to overcome a points deficit going into the season-finale.

"I'm proud to be in this position," Johnson said. "I'm so thankful to have my great race team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports giving me great race cars. I think this year we showed what this team is made of. At times, we didn't have the most speed, but we had the most heart. We proved that at the end of the Chase, especially today."

Just two drivers have overcome a points deficit in the last race of the season to win the championship since NASCAR revised its points system in 1975. Richard Petty accomplished the feat in 1979, and Alan Kulwicki turned the trick in 1992.

Johnson also joins Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Petty as those drivers who have won five or more titles in NASCAR's premier series. Earnhardt and Petty share the record with seven championships each.

"Now I have to figure out what the hell to say about winning five of these things, because everybody is going to want to know what it means," Johnson added.

Rick Hendrick became the first team owner to collect 10 titles in the series. Hendrick previously had been tied with Petty Enterprises at nine.

"I don't know if anybody will ever win five of these things in a row again, but they'll [Johnson's team] be going for six next year, so here we go," Hendrick said.

Chad Knaus moved into second place on the all-time crew chief championship list with five. Dale Inman won a record eight crew chief titles, with drivers Petty and Terry Labonte.

Two weeks ago, HMS swapped Jeff Gordon's pit crew with Johnson's crew for the last two races after Johnson's No.48 team struggled during their pit stops in the 500-mile race at Texas.

"We had to mix up some personnel to make it happen, but I couldn't be prouder and happier for this team," Knaus said. "Jimmie will definitely get his just rewards now."

Hamlin, who recorded the most wins this season with eight, was involved in an early-race wreck when he made contact with Greg Biffle and spun onto the infield grass along the backstretch. Hamlin damaged his front splitter and pitted several times under caution for his team to fix the car.

"I knew we had a car that could contend for a win, but when we got in that incident on the back straightaway, it tore up the front and knocked the toe out, and obviously the car did not drive as well for the rest of the day," Hamlin said.

At one point, Hamlin was running ahead of Johnson in the top-10, but Hamlin faded in the late-going. Last Sunday at Phoenix, he was forced to pit with 14 laps remaining and wound up finishing 12th. Hamlin held a 33-point advantage over Johnson before Phoenix.

Kevin Harvick was penalized for speeding on pit road on lap 190, but Harvick rebounded for a third-place finish. He ended his season 41 points in back of Johnson.

"We went down swinging, and that's what we came down here to do was to go as fast as we could and do everything we had to do to try and win," Harvick said.

Carl Edwards won his second consecutive race with a dominating performance at Homestead. Edwards led 189 of 267 laps. He snapped a 70-race winless streak in the series at Phoenix.

"This is as good as it gets to finish like this and to be on the upswing that we are," Edwards said. "I feel a lot better right now going into 2011 than I did going into 2009, and that's because I feel we have a lot of momentum and things are getting better."

Edwards ended the year fourth in points (-229).

Aric Almirola finished fourth, while A.J. Allmendinger took the fifth spot.

Kasey Kahne, the pole sitter, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle completed the top-10.

With 25 lap remaining, Harvick got loose and tapped Kyle Busch from behind. Busch spun and then made hard contact with the inside wall. As he attempted to drive back to the pits, his car erupted into flames. Track officials quickly pulled Busch out of the car and put the fire out.

"It's just a guy [Harvick] who doesn't have his head on straight apparently today," a frustrated Busch said after finishing 32nd. "I thought everything was good. I talked to him in the pre-race driver's meeting and all of that, but he's such a two-faced guy. It just doesn't matter."

Busch and Harvick also made contact while battling for position earlier in the race.

"[Busch] raced me like a clown all day; three-wide, on the back bumper, running into me, and I just had enough," Harvick said.

Busch was attempting the Homestead trifecta. He won the Camping World Truck race on Friday and the Nationwide event on Sunday.

Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon suffered engine failure with less than 70 laps remaining and ended up finishing 37th. Gordon failed to win a race this year. He finished ninth in points.

"I hate to see the season end like this; it's been that kind of year for us," Gordon said. "We've had no engine trouble like we had here today, but it's little things that have happened to keep us out of victory lane."