(Ron Lewis photo)

"I don't think I've had a win where I had to wait so long to do the TV interview," Bernstein said. "They did all the other guys before they got to me. It's all about the championship at this race and hopefully we'll be in better position for that next year.

"There's a lot of joy for Antron. I'm not as close to Spencer or Schumacher as I am to Antron. It was nice to go out there and play spoiler for those two guys and see a great friend and a fellow Toyota driver win the championship."

Bernstein's holeshot win numbers were 3.762 seconds at 320.81 mph, which was enough against Schumacher's 3.753 at 325.53 mph.

"Winning the last race gives you a lot of confidence through the winter," said Bernstein who finished fifth in the Top Fuel points after losing a tiebreaker for fourth with Shawn Langdon. "We've made some really good ground up during the Countdown. We'll come out next year and try to win ourselves that championship."