HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Truth be told, Tony Stewart came uncomfortably close to losing the Winston Cup championship during Sunday's season-ending Ford 400.

As the second half of the race played out, a hard to control race car forced Stewart to fall as far back as 22nd place at one point, while Mark Martin rose to sixth position at the same time.

Had Stewart's team not managed to correct the problem that made the car loose, and had Martin mounted a late-race push to overtake eventual winner and teammate Kurt Busch to the checkered flag, the outcome could have ended up dramatically different.

As it turned out, Martin finished fourth and Stewart a distant 18th, but still with enough of a cushion to clinch his first Winston cup title.

"If we didn't make (changes) and didn't do it quick enough, we weren't going to be here now," Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, said. "We probably weren't as aggressive earlier with the changes that needed, or I didn't get the vibes that we were as loose as Tony was leading me to believe, I guess. I guess it was just a little lack of communication and I didn't ask enough.

"The racetrack changed a lot, something happened, because we had a pretty decent car and were pretty strong, in the top-10, for the first third of the race. And then all of a sudden, it all went to pot. We had to make a lot of changes just to get it to where it was drivable again, and we caught some breaks when we needed them."

Both Martin and Stewart were keenly aware of where the other was as the separation between the two of them grew larger, at one point forcing Stewart off the lead lap.

"I saw (Stewart) falling back because I was in the middle of the pack," Martin said. "I knew he was back if he was coming to me, so I'm sitting there thinking, 'Man, I can't even run good enough to capitalize on this,' but we just kept hammering and managed to capitalize on it well.

"(Crew chief Ben Leslie and team owner Jack Roush) never said a word (during the race) and never said a word after the race. I was the one that asked them where Tony finished, but I knew he had made his lap up."

Stewart downplayed the possibility that his title hopes were self-destructing once he dropped to 22nd, although his level of concern was certainly heightened when he learned that Martin was in sixth position and challenging for fifth.

"In all honesty, we knew he hadn't led a lap yet, and I knew he hadn't led the most laps, so I knew that was giving us a cushion," Stewart said. "And, we never fell any further back than 22nd, so there was no point of self-destruct, we were still right on target.

	“	I knew that, no matter what happened today, if we weren't fortunate enough to get it done, it was going to somebody I really like (that would win the title), someone I really have a lot of respect and a lot of admiration for and somebody that was really worthy of it. ”
		— Stewart

"When he was in sixth, that was still five spots away. I think what made me feel better about the whole thing is the run we started on the lap down line on the inside, and we drove way out. I would come off the corner and I was counting (Joe) Nemechek, the 88 (Dale Jarrett), watching cars go by and never saw Mark.

"I got to the end of the straightaway and never saw Mark come off (turn) four. So, I thought, well, he's not strong enough to win this thing, and even if he got up there and got five bonus points, we were still going to have to finish 24th (to lose the championship).

Martin would have had to won the race and led the most laps, while Stewart would have had to finish 23rd to ultimately lose the championship. Fortunately for Stewart, he was able to get his car and title push back on track.

"Once we got back on the lead lap, I was hungry to get some more spots back," Stewart said. "Our goal today was not only to win it, but win it by more than 25 points. We wanted the thing at Rockingham (Martin being penalized 25 championship points for driving with an unapproved spring coil) to not be a factor."

While Stewart is obviously happy he's the new Winston Cup champion, he admits that if he had indeed faltered Sunday, Martin would have been just the type of person he would like to be crowned champion.

"I knew that, no matter what happened today, if we weren't fortunate enough to get it done, it was going to somebody I really like, someone I really have a lot of respect and a lot of admiration for and somebody that was really worthy of it," Stewart said of Martin. "There's guys that go their whole career and never win a championship, but I hope that doesn't happen to Mark because he's very deserving of winning the championship. And, I think before it's all said and done, he'll get the championship because he's hungry for it."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.