Market Fresh Recipe Green Bean Casserole

Here’s Patch’s favorite iteration of this classic Thanksgiving holiday recipe, green bean casserole. Have another one to share? Let us know in the comment section below!

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds green beans, trimmed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 bunch scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced separately
• One 10-ounce package sliced mushrooms
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup crushed potato chips or French’s French fried onions.

Directions:

1. Fill a medium skillet with enough water to reach a depth of half an inch.
2. Bring to a boil, then add the green beans.
3. Lower the heat, cover and simmer, until crisp-tender, about four minutes.
4. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water until cool. Transfer to a serving dish.
5. Using the same skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
6. Add the scallion whites and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until golden-brown, about four minutes.
7. Stir in the flour for one minute (the mixture will be dry). Gradually stir in the chicken broth and cream until thickened.
8. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the scallion greens and remove from the heat.
9. Spoon the sauce over the green beans and sprinkle the potato chips or fried onions on top.

Buy your ingredients at the West Hollywood Farmers’ Market, held every Monday (rain or shine) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Plummer Park, 1200 N. Vista St.

About this column: Each week, local foodie Jennifer Brody will share her dining experiences and best recipes, detailing which ingredients you’ll want to pick up at the West Hollywood Farmer’s Market on Monday afternoon.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty may decline to 4600 level due to bearish signals from Elliot Wave patterns despite it being oversold on daily charts, said dealers and technical analysts.

Elliot Wave refers to a technical analysis technique published by Ralph Elliott, which claims that stock markets follow a pattern of five waves up and three waves down, and three up and five down in a bear market.

The upside on the Nifty (future) looks capped to around 5000 while certain patterns and the Elliot Wave set-up indicate a move down into the 4600-4650 area in the near term, said JM Financial in a note. Since June 2007 the area between 4600 and 4700 has served 6 times as an important support/resistance for Nifty.

At 2.23 p.m., November contract for Nifty was down 2.48 percent at 4793.

The price drops for the Kindle and Nook have taken the sting out of shopping for digital book readers, but deals are waiting for Black Friday 2011 and Cyber Monday 2011. Scans of upcoming newspaper advertisements for Black Friday on November 25, 2011 are already appearing across the internet,and online stores use Cyber Monday (November 28, 2011) to offer deals usually that match or, more frustrating for Black Friday shoppers, beat deals offered in local stores on the big after Thanksgiving sales.

Black Friday 2011: Barnes and Noble Nook and Nook Color

The current ad scans show that stores are unloading older Nook Colors and Nooks to make room for the new Nook tablet and Nook touch ereader. Right now, Walmart, Overstock and other stores are discounting the original Nook 3G and Nook wifi ebook readers, and Nook tablets can be found refurbished for about $150 online. Here are current deals for Black Friday, and keep in mind the stores may be offering limited quantities:

Target will offer a Nook Color for $199 or a Nook Simple Touch for $99, and the store will give shoppers a $30 Target gift card. Best Buy will offer the Nook Simple Touch for $79. Staples will offer the Nook Color for $199 or a Nook Simple Touch for $99 and throw in a $20 Staples gift card, and Radio Shack will have a Nook Color for $199 with a $20 Radio Shack gift card attached. If you are in the market for a Nook or Nook Color, the gift cards can be kept for yourself or passed along to someone else as a Christmas gift. Walmart and Amazon will often match Black Friday deals, so watch Amazon and Walmart twitter feeds on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Black Friday 2011: Amazon Kindle

Amazon is suspected to already selling the basic Kindle and the Kindle Fire at a loss so that they can meet the $79 and $199 price points respectively, but stores are creating Black Friday deals by throwing in bonus items. When shopping for Amazon Kindles, check Woot. The daily discount store is owned by Amazon.com.

So much cooking to do; so little time. Just because the holidays are on the way doesn’t mean that we receive extra time in our schedules to prepare for them. Life still goes on as do our daily commitments. With some pre-planning and cooking some things ahead, you can prepare and serve a Thanksgiving dinner without completely stressing yourself out.

Go ahead and plan your menu now (or last week!). If you plan to serve pie for dessert, it can be made now and then frozen until you need it. Or, you can buy an already frozen pie, like Marie Callender’s pumpkin pie, and cook that on Thanksgiving or the day before. Slip it into a glass pie plate, bake it and keep your mouth shut—I’m just sayin’.

Make a squash, or other vegetable, casserole now, freeze it, and pull it out to thaw the day before Thanksgiving. A day or two before Thanksgiving, boil yams/sweet potatoes and have them ready to put into a casserole. Or better yet, just throw, or place, if you’re not feeling violent, small sweet potatoes in the oven on Thanksgiving Day, bake them and serve them that way. Just think, that will save on your marshmallow bill.

Consider cooking a turkey breast or breasts instead of a whole bird. They’re easier to deal with; not quite as cute but much more compliant.

Try the cranberry relish/sauce below. The great thing about it is that you can make if for Thanksgiving dinner and it will then keep in your refrigerator until Christmas. No, I’m not kidding. You can find this and other great recipes that you can use during the holidays, and all year long, in my two humorous cookbooks, “Have You Considered Cooking?” and, “The Grits Shall Rise Again!” They’re available at www.carolgfrey.com. They make great gifts, too!

Cranberry Cherry Relish
ingredients:

• 1 bag fresh cranberries
• 1½ cups sugar
• ¾ cups orange juice
• zest of 1 small orange, finely grated
• ¾ cups dried cherries – SECRET INGREDIENT!

Prep:

Pick through cranberries, rinse and drain well. The reason for picking through the berries is not just to look at them but to throw away the shrivelly and squishy ones.

Combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice and orange zest in a saucepan.

Place saucepan over a medium heat and bring to a boil.

Boil slowly until berries pop open (about 10 minutes).

Skim foam off the surface with a metal spoon, stir in dried cherries and let cool to room temperature. Just guesstimate about the room temperature thing. Or, stick your finger in there and say either, “Hum, this seems like room temperature,” or “Ow,ow,ow,ow,ow! Not room temperature yet.”

Cover and refrigerate. Will keep in refrigerator for 1 month.

Vince Young leads Eagles past Giants 17-10

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Philadelphia Eagles finally got it right in the fourth quarter, and it’s no surprise they did it against the New York Giants.

Subbing for the injured Michael Vick, Vince Young threw a go-ahead 8-yard touchdown pass to Riley Cooper with 2:45 to play and the undermanned Eagles posted a 17-10 victory over the Giants in what was a must-win game for Andy Reid’s struggling team Sunday night.

The Eagles (4-6) had lost five games in the fourth quarter this season but found the solution this time with an 80-yard, 18-play march over 8:51 that sent the Giants (6-4) to their second straight loss.

Philadelphia converted six third-down plays with DeSean Jackson setting up the first-and-goal with a 10-yard catch to the 10, and Young capping it with his second touchdown pass of the game to a wide-open Cooper, who came in without a catch this season.

Jackson, who was benched for last week’s game for missing a team meeting, finished with six catches for 88 yards. Cooper had five receptions for 75 yards.

The Eagles, of course, made Reid sweat out the final minutes. Eli Manning, who tied it with a 24-yard TD pass to Victor Cruz earlier in the quarter, drove the Giants from their own 10 to the Eagles 21 with the final 47 yards coming on a catch-and-run by Cruz with 1:25 to play.

However, Manning stepped out of the pocket on the next play and was hit from behind by Jason Babin and fumbled. Derek Landi recovered at the 26, sending the Giants to their second straight excruciating loss to the Eagles and second consecutive tough loss overall.

It dropped New York into a tie for first place with Dallas in the NFC East with six games to play and left the Eagles two games behind. The Cowboys beat the Redskins in overtime after Washington missed a game-winning field-goal attempt.

It also marked the second straight year the Eagles rallied late to beat New York at the Meadowlands with last year’s 38-31 decision coming in a game that Philadelphia rallied from 21 points down late.

Young was 23 of 36 for 258 yards and two touchdowns, and LeSean McCoy had 113 yards rushing — with 60 coming on a game-sealing scamper in the closing moments.

While Young made several big plays to spark the Eagles’ offense, he also threw three interceptions, the most costly being one that Aaron Ross picked off in the end zone on a second and 9 from the New York 16 with Philadelphia ahead 10-3 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

New York eventually tied it early in the fourth quarter on a 24-yard TD pass from Manning to Cruz. It was set up two plays earlier when Manning rolled out of the pocket and found Hakeem Nicks for a 47-yard gain on third down to the Eagles 24.

Manning was 18 of 35 for 264 yards, and Cruz had six catches for 128 yards. The Giants’ running game failed to get going, rushing for just 29 yards.

The first half was typical of an Eagles-Giants meeting: chippy, intense, hard-fought and, not surprisingly, ugly.

If there was a surprise, it was that the defenses dominated. The norm was Jackson taunting the Giants in more ways than one, including one that cost the Eagles a 50-yard pass completion.

Jackson set up both of the Eagles’ scores in the first half. He caught a 32-yard pass early in the second quarter to set up a 33-yard field goal by Alex Henery and then brought back excruciating memories from last season with a 51-yard punt return that was a carbon copy of his winning 65-yard punt return on the final play of the Eagles’ 38-31 Meadowlands Miracle, a game Philadelphia rallied from a 21-point deficit in the final seven-plus minutes.

What made the return so eerie was that Jackson fielded Steve Weatherford’s punt at his own 35, circled right and then ran down the sideline in front of the Giants’ bench — the same thing he did last season. The only difference was Weatherford pushed him out of bounds at the 14; Matt Dodge was the Giants’ punter last season.

It didn’t matter. One play later, Young found former Giants receiver Steve Smith cutting under the zone and he easily outran linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka into the end zone with 1:22 left in the half.

It was enough time for Manning to get the Giants on the board. A 21-yard pass to Cruz on the first play got the ball the 41 and a late 10-catch by running back D.J. Ware on a play in which he suffered a concussion set up Lawrence Tynes’ 48-yard field goal.

Two runners died on Sunday in the Philadelphia Marathon, where unseasonably warm and humid conditions made the grueling 26.2-mile event even more difficult.

“It was warmer than it should have been,” said Kevin Smith, owner of Elite Runners and Walkers in Robinson, who organized an outing to the marathon for 34 local runners. “A lot of runners were going down at the finish line. A lot. The heat took its toll.”

Temperatures were in the low 60s at the end of the race, about 10 degrees above normal.

Race officials did not release the victims’ names pending family notification.

“We are deeply saddened, and our thoughts are with their families and friends,” Melanie Johnson, executive director of The Philadelphia Marathon Race Weekend, said in a statement.

Officer Jillian Russell, a police spokeswoman, said a 21-year-old man collapsed at the finish line on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and a 40-year-old man collapsed about a quarter-mile before the finish line.

Russell said both were taken to nearby Hahnemann University Hospital, where they were pronounced dead of apparent heart attacks.

Smith saw the 21-year-year old collapse.

“I didn’t realize he’d died until later,” he said last night by cell phone as he and the group rode a bus back to Pittsburgh.

“We advised our runners to listen to their bodies (and) definitely go out slower for the first half,” he said. “Especially under the conditions, you are pushing your body beyond what you normally do.”

More than 25,000 runners participated in the marathon.

Anyone can sign up, and sometimes people who do not train properly get into trouble during the endurance test, Smith said.

“With a race of that size, you get a lot of new runners that maybe have never run a race and don’t understand the stresses on the body,” he said.

Philadelphia race organizers had many emergency services personnel at the finish line, and they acted quickly when a runner needed help, he said.

Kate Hrach, 41, an emergency medicine doctor at UPMC Passavant in McCandless, ran her first marathon yesterday. She paid close attention to hydration and indicators of heat- and fatigue-related stress.

“As a doctor, I understand the stress on the body the marathon causes,” she said. “There’s no screening of people to see who’s fit. I see a lot of older runners, people overdoing it on the course.”

Dave Hufnagel, 24, of Finleyville said he “didn’t push it too hard” in running his first marathon.

“It’s really sad they died,” he said. “Everybody who does this stuff, they’re all great people. I’m sure they had family out there watching. It’s just devastating. I couldn’t imagine it.”

Moon native Samantha Howard, a former Duquesne University runner, finished fifth among women at 2:45:45, good enough to qualify for the Olympic Trials.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Philadelphia Eagles finally got it right in the fourth quarter, and it’s no surprise they did it against the New York Giants.

Subbing for the injured Michael Vick, Vince Young threw a go-ahead 8-yard touchdown pass to Riley Cooper with 2:45 to play and the undermanned Eagles posted a 17-10 victory over the Giants in what was a must-win game for Andy Reid’s struggling team Sunday night.

The Eagles (4-6) had lost five games in the fourth quarter this season but found the solution this time with an 80-yard, 18-play march over 8:51 that sent the Giants (6-4) to their second straight loss.

Philadelphia converted six third-down plays with DeSean Jackson setting up the first-and-goal with a 10-yard catch to the 10, and Young capping it with his second touchdown pass of the game to a wide-open Cooper, who came in without a catch this season.

Jackson, who was benched for last week’s game for missing a team meeting, finished with six catches for 88 yards. Cooper had five receptions for 75 yards.

The Eagles, of course, made Reid sweat out the final minutes. Eli Manning, who tied it with a 24-yard TD pass to Victor Cruz earlier in the quarter, drove the Giants from their own 10 to the Eagles 21 with the final 47 yards coming on a catch-and-run by Cruz with 1:25 to play.

However, Manning stepped out of the pocket on the next play and was hit from behind by Jason Babin and fumbled. Derek Landi recovered at the 26, sending the Giants to their second straight excruciating loss to the Eagles and second consecutive tough loss overall.

It dropped New York into a tie for first place with Dallas in the NFC East with six games to play and left the Eagles two games behind. The Cowboys beat the Redskins in overtime after Washington missed a game-winning field-goal attempt.

It also marked the second straight year the Eagles rallied late to beat New York at the Meadowlands with last year’s 38-31 decision coming in a game that Philadelphia rallied from 21 points down late.

Young was 23 of 36 for 258 yards and two touchdowns, and LeSean McCoy had 113 yards rushing — with 60 coming on a game-sealing scamper in the closing moments.

While Young made several big plays to spark the Eagles’ offense, he also threw three interceptions, the most costly being one that Aaron Ross picked off in the end zone on a second and 9 from the New York 16 with Philadelphia ahead 10-3 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

New York eventually tied it early in the fourth quarter on a 24-yard TD pass from Manning to Cruz. It was set up two plays earlier when Manning rolled out of the pocket and found Hakeem Nicks for a 47-yard gain on third down to the Eagles 24.

Manning was 18 of 35 for 264 yards, and Cruz had six catches for 128 yards. The Giants’ running game failed to get going, rushing for just 29 yards.

The first half was typical of an Eagles-Giants meeting: chippy, intense, hard-fought and, not surprisingly, ugly.

If there was a surprise, it was that the defenses dominated. The norm was Jackson taunting the Giants in more ways than one, including one that cost the Eagles a 50-yard pass completion.

Jackson set up both of the Eagles’ scores in the first half. He caught a 32-yard pass early in the second quarter to set up a 33-yard field goal by Alex Henery and then brought back excruciating memories from last season with a 51-yard punt return that was a carbon copy of his winning 65-yard punt return on the final play of the Eagles’ 38-31 Meadowlands Miracle, a game Philadelphia rallied from a 21-point deficit in the final seven-plus minutes.

What made the return so eerie was that Jackson fielded Steve Weatherford’s punt at his own 35, circled right and then ran down the sideline in front of the Giants’ bench — the same thing he did last season. The only difference was Weatherford pushed him out of bounds at the 14; Matt Dodge was the Giants’ punter last season.

It didn’t matter. One play later, Young found former Giants receiver Steve Smith cutting under the zone and he easily outran linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka into the end zone with 1:22 left in the half.

It was enough time for Manning to get the Giants on the board. A 21-yard pass to Cruz on the first play got the ball the 41 and a late 10-catch by running back D.J. Ware on a play in which he suffered a concussion set up Lawrence Tynes’ 48-yard field goal.

Jay Cutler’s season reportedly in jeopardy due to broken thumb

Jay Cutler has been at the heart of Chicago’s recent hot streak, but the Bears might have to finish their playoff push without him.

According to multiple reports Sunday night, Cutler broke the thumb on his right (throwing) hand during the Bears’ win over San Diego. Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune reported that two sources confirmed that Cutler will miss 6-8 weeks, and that the Bears will avoid putting him on injured reserve in order to have him for any possible playoff games. Michael C. Wright of ESPNChicago earlier reported that Cutler will undergo surgery and could miss the rest of the regular season.

If that’s accurate, then the 7-3 Bears face a monumental task trying to secure a wild-card spot in the NFC. Cutler’s current backup is fourth-year man Caleb Hanie, who was pressed into duty in Chicago’s playoff loss to Green Bay last year. He has yet to throw a pass this season and has never made an NFL start.

The Bears also have rookie QB Nathan Enderle out of Idaho, but he has not seen any NFL action.

Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times tweeted, citing a source, that Cutler may have suffered the injury while chasing down the Chargers’ Antoine Cason after an interception. Cutler helped force Cason out of bounds, preventing a touchdown. The interception came after Bears receiver Johnny Knox slipped and fell while running a route, sending Cutler’s pass right into Cason’s hands.

As things stand right now, the Bears hold the second wild-card spot and No. 6 overall seed in the NFC. Their final six games include trips to Oakland, Denver, Green Bay and Minnesota, and home matchups against Kansas City and Seattle.

Chicago’s options outside the current roster would be limited, since the trade deadline passed several weeks ago. One name that surfaced Sunday night was Marc Bulger, who retired this past summer but played under current Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz in St. Louis. The news about Cutler also will no doubt trigger some ill-advised calls for Chicago to reach out to Brett Favre, but that’s a far-fetched scenario. The reality is that Hanie is the best option the Bears have.

Hanie was the third quarterback Chicago used in that postseason loss to the Packers. Cutler started that game, then left in the third quarter with a knee injury. He took heavy criticism following the Bears’ loss from people claiming that he could have returned to the field — Cutler never left the Chicago sideline and appeared to be walking fine throughout the second half.

Todd Collins initially stepped in to replace Cutler, but the Bears turned to Hanie after Collins struggled. Hanie completed 13 of 20 passes in his appearance, with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Cutler, meanwhile, kept hearing from his naysayers — who have followed him throughout his career, first in Denver and now in Chicago — as the Bears started the season 2-3. He’s been excellent, though, during the Bears’ win streak, doing most of his work behind a shaky offensive line.

For whatever it’s worth (probably not much) Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger fractured his thumb in Week 10 vs. Cincinnati and is expected to play in Week 12 and beyond. He also played through a similar injury during the Steelers’ 2005 Super Bowl run. Brett Favre broke his thumb in 2003, yet kept his consecutive starts streak alive.

The early reports suggest that Cutler’s injury is more severe than any of those cases, hence the possible need for surgery.

That’s the first step for the Bears now: figuring out how badly Cutler will be out. A six-to-eight week window could get Cutler back on the field in time for the playoffs, but the Bears have to get there first. Chicago and Detroit sit a game ahead of 6-4 Dallas and 6-4 Atlanta in an increasingly-hot race for the wild cards.

Without Cutler, the Bears could struggle to hang on to their position. This is a potentially devastating blow to one of football’s hottest teams.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Tony Stewart was a mile and a half from the checkered flag Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedwaywhen he keyed his mic the last time during the Ford 400.

“I got this,” he said.

He was right — just as he’d been predicting all week.

• MORE: Shock firing: Stewart canned crew chief

• MORE: Edwards shifts focus to 2012

• PHOTOS: Chase for the Sprint Cup gallery

Stewart certified a month’s worth of swagger, outdueling Carl Edwards for a victory to win the closest title race in NASCAR history.

The win — Stewart’s fifth in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup — left him tied with Edwards, who finished second Sunday, atop the standings with 2,403 points.

Stewart, 40, won his third NASCAR championship by virtue of having the most wins.

“We said all week, if we just go and win the race, we wouldn’t have to worry about what he did,” the Columbus, Ind., native said. “If this isn’t one of the greatest championship battles in history, I don’t know what is.”

Beyond giving NASCAR a thrilling, Game 7-style finale that CEO Brian France had envisioned when he created the Chase before the 2004 season, the title was significant for several reasons for Stewart, who became:

•The first champion to win the season finale in 13 years (and the seventh ever).

•The first driver-owner to win a title in NASCAR’s premier series since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.

•The bookend to Jimmie Johnson’s unprecedented five consecutive championships (Stewart was the last before Johnson to win a title in 2005).

•The first champion in the Chase era to win five races in the title run.

Stewart (whose first title was in 2002) also joins Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Lee Petty and David Pearson as a three-time champion. All are in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

He did so with perhaps a clutch performance rarely seen in NASCAR’s 63-year history. Stewart roared back twice (passing 118 cars over the course of 400 miles) after falling outside the top 30 twice in the first 40 laps.

“I feel like I passed half the state of Florida,” Stewart said. “I would definitely say this is one of the greatest races in my life.

“I would have lost every bet in the world that we were going to win a race or win five races.”

A.J. Foyt, whom Stewart called one of his heroes, called him after the race and said in a statement, “Tony drove the best race of his life.”

Responded Stewart, “To hear him say that, it brings a tear to your eye.”

His crew chief, Darian Grubb, made a daring pit call that stretched the gas tank in Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet to the limit but left him in the catbird seat for the race’s final sequence.

“Darian Grubb, you are the … man,” Stewart radioed his crew. “You did this, bud.”

Said Grubb, who revealed after the race that he was told by Stewart-Haas Racing last month that he wouldn’t return as Stewart’s crew chief next season: “We just didn’t give up. We kept fighting and showed we were true champions.”

When asked in the postrace news conference about Grubb’s status, Stewart said, “I know what his status is for the rest of the night, and I’m going to get him drunk.”

Edwards, who led a race-high 119 laps after starting from the pole, had no answer for what Stewart did on the track.

“This night is about Tony Stewart,” said Edwards, who had a Chase-record average finish of 4.9. “Those guys rose to the occasion and beat us fair and square. Tony and Darian managed to do a good job with their strategy. That was all I had.”

Overcoming adversity

The pivotal moment of the race came when Stewart took the lead during the green-flag cycle on lap 201. His Impala was out of gas as he came to pit road on lap 212, but the strategy meant he could finish the race without stopping again.

When a caution fell for rain three laps later, Edwards was forced to pit again. On the final restart with 37 laps remaining, Stewart was third and Edwards fifth. Stewart passed Brad Keselowski a lap later and wasn’t challenged as the race finished under green.

He still had to overcome plenty of adversity, starting shortly after the green flag. When the caution flag flew for the first time on lap 14 because of rain, Stewart’s team discovered a large hole in the left front grille of his car.

“They’re going to feel like (crap) after we kick their (butt) after this,” he radioed his crew.

After two stops to repair the damage, Stewart restarted in 40th and climbed 17 spots in 14 laps when another long pit stop for fixes dropped him to 32nd. “All right, they’re really going to feel worse after we’ve gone to the back twice and kicked their (butt),” he said.

Those were the latest jabs delivered by Stewart in a week filled with trash talking. During a title contenders news conference Thursday in Miami Beach, Edwards seemed slightly unnerved by the braggadocio of Stewart, who confidently predicted he would win the title (“it’s not cocky if you back it up”).

Edwards mostly didn’t engage Stewart, electing to let his performance speak for itself. That seemed to work Saturday when he won the pole position and paced the final practice session.

That still didn’t stop the sniping from Stewart, who brashly insisted the news media not start etching Edwards’ name on the trophy yet after Stewart qualified 15th.

“It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight,” Stewart said of the mind games he played with his rival. “He is a fun guy to pick at. He makes himself an easy target.”

In the end, Stewart backed up his talk.

“I absolutely mentally tried to beat that kid up this week. I felt I had to throw everything out in my arsenal to get this opportunity. He’s too nice to fight back. It was like picking on a kid; you kind of felt bad. … He’ll win a championship and be in our position. I appreciated that battle we had.”

During a rain delay that red-flagged the race for 1 hour, 14 minutes on lap 109 of 267, the cockiness hadn’t faded as he told a reporter, “We are fixing to keep delivering this whooping; we got more in mind for (Edwards) the rest of the day.”

Despite all of the sparring, there were no hard feelings when the battle was over. Among the first to congratulate Stewart was Edwards, who offered a hearty handshake.

“He’s a great guy, and we’ve been giving him a rough time this week. … It shows how classy a guy he is,” Stewart said.

Said Edwards, who finished second in points for the second time in his career: “If I can’t win this thing, I told my wife I’m going to be the best loser NASCAR’s ever had. We’ll be just as hard to beat next year and the year after that. If we’re in this position again, those guys better watch out.”

Battling back

At various points during the season, it would have seemed unlikely for either Edwards or Stewart to have won the championship.

Edwards led the standings after 21 of the first 35 races, but he spent the first six months of the season mulling his future with Roush Fenway Racing, and his uncertain status became a distraction (Jeff Gordon said Edwards, who was being courted by Joe Gibbs Racing, would have no chance at winning a championship as a lame-duck driver). Edwards elected to re-sign with the team in August in a multiyear deal.

Though he had only one victory (at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March), Edwards led the circuit in top-10s (26). He actually outperformed Stewart (a 6.3 average finish) for most of the Chase with nine top-10s and an 11th.

“We raised our level of performance and rose to the occasion,” Edwards said. “I truly don’t think we could have done much better in this Chase.”

That didn’t seem much solace to his crew chief, Bob Osborne, who radioed his driver, “I’m really, really, really sorry” on the cool-down lap.

Edwards responded, “Bob, you are the best crew chief out here. I’m proud of you guys. Keep your heads up.”

He and Osborne might be able to find solace in the turnaround this season by the team that beat them for the title.

After finishing ninth at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 21, Stewart said his team didn’t deserve to run for a championship and would be wasting a spot by making the Chase. Asked for his pre-Chase title favorites at a news conference in Chicago, he listed seven names but didn’t include himself.

But he opened the 10-race title run with a victory at Chicagoland Speedway four days later and then reeled off wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway (where he stole a victory from Johnson, passing him on a late restart from the outside lane) and Texas Motor Speedway. “To leave (Martinsville) doing something remarkable,” Stewart said, “I feel that was the turning point in the Chase for us.”

Yet he still trailed Edwards by three points entering Homestead, where he became the first driver to come from behind and win the championship with a victory in NASCAR’s modern era (which dates to 1975).

“It’s been a tough summer and a tough fall,” Stewart said. “You’ve got to believe in something.”

As a downpour begain shortly after his championship celebration began Sunday night, he said his faith was in the “man upstairs (for holding) the rain off long enough for us to get the job done.”

“I don’t care how long it rains,” Stewart said. “I’m going to be up all night.”