Three. Lousy. Points

Here's a question for you: Could NASCAR really have gotten it this right on purpose, what with the changes to the Chase format (wild-card, single-point scoring system, etc.), or was this more a blind-squirrel-meets-acorn moment?

Can't argue with the fact that NASCAR's changes to the Chase have made 2011 a year to remember in the Sprint Cup Series. There are just three points separating Carl Edwards from Tony Stewart, with one race to go, and if that isn't as close as it gets, then my name is Elmer Fudd.

And it's not.

Edwards has to win the Ford 400 to lock up the title. It's the only way he can guarantee it. Stewart has to score four more points than Edwards, and that's that.

They're tied with 356 in nine races, and that means they've averaged 39.55 points per race in the Chase. That's fifth place...on average, including bonus points and so forth.

NASCAR's tweaks have made this the closest Chase finale in history, and the third-closest since 1975. Or is it the performance of Edwards and Stewart that have made it so close?

It's splitting a fine hair to put a call on that, but suffice it to say that it's worked pretty well whatever the cause.

The fact that Jimmie Johnson was not among those who were contending for the title might have had something to do with the perception that the Chase was more equitable than in past years as well.

Stewart has clinched both titles at Homestead-Miami Speedway; Edwards has lost two at HMS. Of course, Stewart entered both the 2002 and 2005 finales with points in hand, and Edwards was always the hound, never the fox.

“We have never gone into Homestead with the points lead,” Edwards verified. “We feel we have the cars and pit crew and have shown that we can gut it out on these really tough days when maybe we don’t have the fastest car. This is going to be good.”

The flipping of the script makes it that much more exciting, in all seriousness. Stewart plays better with a lead, and he has two rings to prove it. We’ll see how Edwards plays with the points in his favor.

Besides the obvious, winning the series title, that big silver Cup and all the money that goes with it, Edwards has a further incentive.

“You know they give a boat away if you win that thing,” he said of the Ford 400. “I saw that boat and I would like to go down there and win it. That would be fun to put a cap on this season. That is what our mission is.”

Stewart, for his part, is just reveling in the fact that he is in this fight to begin with, and he intends to come out of Homestead with the boat, the Cup and the cash.

“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Stewart said after finishing one spot behind Edwards in third. “It’s fun. He's keeping me honest, I'm keeping him honest.  It's fun when we're first and second in the points and we're running first and second on the racetrack the last two weeks.  It shows why we're both in this position.

“We got to keep the pressure on.  Two weeks in a row we've led the most laps. I’m really proud of that, proud of the pressure we're putting on him. As far as I'm concerned, it's a dead heat going in there.  We just got to do our job like we've been doing.  To have three top-three finishes in the last three weeks, pretty proud of that. “

What it boils down to is 267 laps on a 1.5-mile track, and it’s really too close to call. As long as they’re both running the way they are, it’s going to hinge on a caution flag, a pit call or a fuel call. It’s that even.

Stewart said there was no point in handicapping the Ford 400.

“It doesn't matter to me,” he said. “It's just about getting four more points than he does.  That's all that matters.”

When you’re right, you’re right. It’s too bad we have to wait seven days to find out who wins and who doesn’t.