Pole position driver Kasey Kahne maintained his lead on the first lap of the race.
Edwards started in the second position on the grid, and became the leader of the race on the fourth lap.
Shortly after a restart on lap 22, championship leader Denny Hamlin spun sideways, resulting with damage to his splitter.
Edwards' victory was his second win in the 2010 season, with the first coming the previous week at the Kobalt Tools 500.
Jimmie Johnson won the Drivers' Championship, 39 points ahead of Denny Hamlin.
[13] Johnson was just off Busch's pace, followed by Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, and Jeff Gordon.
It’s going to be exciting being up front now, being in the mix with Denny [Hamlin], Kevin [Harvick] and Jimmie [Johnson].
Edwards, Gordon, Ragan, Biffle, and Aric Almirola rounded out the first ten positions.
[19] Following the third practice session, Harvick stated, "We didn't put up a fast lap but it never slows down.
"[17] The race, the last in the season, began at 1:00 p.m. EST and was televised live in the United States on ESPN.
[1] The conditions on the grid were dry before the race, the air temperature at 80 °F (27 °C); overcast skies were expected.
Next, Bret Michaels along with Miami native Nanette Melina, performed the national anthem, and gave the command for drivers to start their engines.
[20] During the pace laps, Sam Hornish had to move to the rear of the grid because of changing to his backup car.
Kasey Kahne retained his pole position lead into the first corner, followed by Carl Edwards, who started second.
Eleventh-placed qualifier Jeff Gordon joined teammate Johnson in the top ten four laps later.
Johnson passed A. J. Allmendinger on lap 12 to claim the third position, as David Reutimann and Kurt Busch collided into the wall.
Hamlin turned sideways and drove through the grass in the infield, prompting the second caution on the following lap.
Most of the front runners made pit stops during the caution, as Hamlin's team worked to repair his splitter.
Marcos Ambrose spun sideways on lap 135, causing the fourth caution of the race.
Harvick became the leader under the caution, but was given a pit road speeding penalty, resulting in him starting in the rear of the grid.
Harvick made pit stops during the caution, while the front runners stayed on the track.
Edwards remained the leader on the restart, ahead of Kenseth, Kyle Busch, and Stewart.
Harvick passed Hamlin for ninth place on lap 207, as Johnson and Kyle Busch were competing for the third position.
As Edwards crossed the finish line to win the race, Johnson won his fifth consecutive championship.
Kahne, Newman, Stewart, Kenseth and Biffle rounded out the top ten finishers in the race.
"[25] Afterward, Johnson began celebrating his fifth consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship.
I don’t think the 48 (Johnson) showed the strength this year like they did in the past and that opened the door for the rest of us.
"Harvick pulled a slide job on my earlier in the day, I crossed over and passed him clean.
My guys worked way too hard to be in this position to have a wrecked race car at the end of the year.
I talked to him in the driver’s meeting but Kevin is such a two-faced guy it doesn’t really matter," Busch said.