Homestead, Fla. -- Nothing could stop Jimmie Johnson's drive into the NASCAR record books. Not even a final, furious push by Carl Edwards.

Edwards led a race-high 157 laps, ran out of gas as he crossed the finish line, but still won Sunday's season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

His series-high ninth win of the year wasn't enough to wrest away the Sprint Cup title.

Johnson locked up his third consecutive championship with a solid 15th-place run, beating Edwards by 69 points to join Cale Yarborough as the only drivers in NASCAR history to win three straight titles.

"It's the ultimate reward. We worked so hard to put ourselves in this position," Johnson said. "It's just total teamwork and dedication."

Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team have mastered the Chase, proving themselves unbeatable in their pursuit of Yarborough's mark. They've won their titles with consistency -- he finished outside the top 10 just twice in this Chase, a 15th-place finish at Texas -- and by winning eight of the last 30 Chase races.

They've also gotten very rich along the way: Johnson has won more than $2 million in the 10 Chase races this year. Yarborough notched a combined $1.63 million in all three of his championship seasons.

Johnson needed only to finish 36th or better to win the title, but got off to a rocky start when he qualified 30th. He stopped for gas and tires with 13 laps to go, leading to his mid-pack finish.

Edwards pushed it to the limit, knowing he had to win the race, lead the most laps and pray for Johnson to have some trouble to win his first title. But he was a gracious runner-up, and after his trademark celebratory backflip, he walked over to Johnson's passing car on the track to congratulate him.

"At least we can lay our heads down tonight and know we won some races and just got beaten by a true champion," Edwards said.

Edwards' win Sunday chopped 72 points off of Johnson's margin.

Kevin Harvick finished second and was followed by Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon, who finished the year winless for the first time since his 1993 rookie season.