HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- For the briefest of moments on Sunday, Kevin Harvick was on top of the world. At the conclusion of pit stops under caution on Lap 188 of the Ford 400, Harvick pulled out in front of Martin Truex Jr., giving him the race -- and points -- lead.

Harvick began the day 46 points behind Denny Hamlin. But at that point, with Jimmie Johnson eighth and Denny Hamlin ninth, Harvick led Hamlin by a single point, eliciting a roar from the Homestead-Miami Speedway crowd.

However, the crew's elation turned to frustration and the crowd's cheers turned to groans when officials ruled Harvick had exceeded NASCAR's speed limit entering pit road. And two laps later, he was moved to the tail end of the lead-lap cars.

"I don't think that penalty will ever settle in my stomach," Harvick said. "When you read me off my pit road times of 49.6 [miles per hour], 49.4, 50.8 and then 49.6 -- and there's only a handful of people that get to see them -- I won't ever settle for that.

"I don't know how you can be speeding when you're on the bumper [of the guy] in front of you [who] is not speeding. So that's about it."

Even though he drove his way back up to a third-place finish behind winner Carl Edwards and eventual champion Johnson, Harvick finished 41 points shy of a dream season. Still, he couldn't help but speak with pride and contentment with the way this year ended compared to 2009.

"Last year at this time, we all wanted to put a gun in our mouths," Harvick said. "We didn't know what we needed to do to fix it, and we were running better but we didn't know if that was going to continue into next year.

"We came out of the gate strong. We ran strong all year. And in the end, we came up a little bit short. But from where we were last year to this stepping stone, for us to [have something to] build on is a whole lot better than where we were a year ago."

Johnson had six wins to Harvick's three, but Harvick arguably had the most consistent season of any of the three contenders. He led the series with 26 top-10 finishes and was running at the finish in all but one race. So is he disappointed at coming so close?

"No, I remember where we sat when I left this race last year," Harvick said. "You always want to win but I'm not going to sit here and be disappointed. We raced as hard as we could race this year, with everybody putting up every piece of effort that they had, week-in and week-out.

"I know what it feels like to run like we did last year. So I'm more excited about looking to be consistent and racing this way. I'm not going to look back. This is going to make us stronger. We have got a good race team that's going to stick around for a while, and you know, I'm just happy to be a part of it right now."

As the pressure ramped up over the final few races, Harvick seemed more at ease with every news conference. He admitted just being in position to win the title was a source of satisfaction and relaxation.

"Once you get to the last week, you're supposed to enjoy that part of it," Harvick said. "You've got a shot and that's really all you can ask for. ... There's a lot of things in your control but there's a lot of things out of your control, too, especially with the position that we were in today.

"So you go out and you race as hard as you can and you try to put yourself in position to gain points and do the best you can with that team. I just wasn't going to get caught up in worrying about where [Hamlin] or where [Johnson] was. We needed to go out and win and put ourselves at the front of the pack to try to do that."

If Harvick had 20-20 hindsight, he would have chosen to make the pit crew swap with Clint Bowyer at the start of the Chase.

"For me, I would take the first five back with the pit crew that I had the last five," he said.

While waiting for their post-race question and answer session, Harvick and Hamlin watched wordlessly as televisions in the media center displayed Johnson's championship celebration. Later, Harvick said Johnson's streak of five consecutive titles can be looked at in two ways.

"I think you have to respect it for sure, knowing how hard it is to do this," Harvick said. "I think that you have to step back and look at it and realize what they have accomplished is pretty remarkable.

"But for us, I think you step back looking at they're also vulnerable. This is the first crack at it. They have obviously done a great job but there's a few chinks in the armor and I think everybody has caught up to being more competitive to them."

Harvick skirmished with Kyle Busch for much of the day, and a late-race incident between the two ended with Busch crashing hard into the inside wall on the frontstretch. He tried to drive the car back to the pits but it caught fire midway and he was forced to abandon it as safety crews came to his rescue.

Busch called Harvick "a guy who doesn't have his head on straight, apparently." Harvick had a differing opinion.

"He raced me like a clown all day," Harvick said. "Three-wide, on the back bumper, running into me, and I just had enough."

Hamlin immediately responded by saying, "Sounds like [the way] your teammates raced me all day."

To which Harvick quipped: "I just parked yours."