Once again Carl Edwards is the man of the hour. Edwards won the Sharpie 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway for the second year in a row. Edwards driving the No.60 Roush Fenway Racing car passed Kyle Busch for the lead with 31 laps to go.
Edwards records his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season and the 13th of his career. He also won last weekend’s race at Michigan.
Kyle Busch led a career-high 415 laps and finished second. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon completed the top-five.
betagnome Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards held off Kyle Busch on a restart with just two laps remaining in the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway to claim his fifth Sprint Cup victory of the season. Edwards also won the Nationwide Series race on Saturday. He completed a the sweep this weekend and added 10 bonus points to his total for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
As runner-up , Kyle Busch clinched his place in the Chase. With 8 wins, good for 80 bonus points, Kyle Busch is assured of a top seeding when the field for the Chase is set after the Sept. 6 race at Richmond. David Ragan came in third, a career best finish set up by staying on the track when all the other contenders except for Dale Earnhardt Jr. pitted under caution on Lap 181 of the 200-lap race. Greg Biffle was fourth, with Matt Kenseth in 5th. Edwards had less than a 2 second lead when the engine on Denny Hamlin’s‘ car blew on Lap 194 to bring out the seventh and final caution of the race. On the restart on Lap 199, Carl Edwards pulled away from Kyle Busch through the first two corners and extended his lead to .947 seconds at the finish.
betagnome Carl Edwards
During a rain delay that stopped the Pennsylvania 500 for 41 minutes, driver Carl Edwards and crew chief Bob Osborne argued loudly about who made the call to come to the pits after an afternoon thunderstorm began to soak Pocono Raceway. In retrospect, both should be willing to take the credit, because the strategy earned Edwards his fourth Sprint Cup Series victory of the year and the 11th of his career. Tony Stewart was second, 3.858 seconds back. Jimmie Johnson was third, after starting on the pole, and coasting across the finish line after running out of fuel in the final corner.
Kevin Harvick rallied from a first-lap spin to finish fourth. David Ragan was fifth, followed by Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon. Edwards’ chances of winning hinged on the race resuming after the rain delay, which came on Lap 131. Edwards, Johnson and Stewart were among those who had come to the pits on Lap 128, while 19 other cars remained on the track. When the race resumed, however, those 19 cars had to make two pit stops to one for those drivers who already had come to pit road. That proved to be the difference. Martin, Edwards and Johnson dominated the first two-thirds of the race, leading 53, 36 and 33 of the first 131 laps, respectively, but only Martin, who did not pit on Lap 128, was among the frontrunners when NASCAR red-flagged the race.
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betagnome Carl Edwards
In the final 55-lap green-flag run, Edwards’ No. 60 Ford streaked away from the No. 20 Toyota of Joey Logano, taking the checkered flag 6.877 seconds ahead of the 18-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing phenom.
“That was unbelievable,” said Edwards, who picked up his second win of the season and the 15th of his career to the delight of a strong contingent of supporters in the grandstands. “It’s unreal. There won’t be a guy tomorrow who has a better day than me. Thank you everybody up in the grandstands. Thanks a lot.
“The 20 car has been great this year. Racing with them has been a challenge, but a fun one.”
The No. 20 Camry has nine victories this season with four drivers behind the wheel. Logano accounted for one of the wins, at Kentucky.
Jason Keller was third Saturday, posting his best finish since running second at Chicagoland in 2004. Jason Leffler was fourth, followed by Brad Keselowski, who recovered from a late-race accident to finish fifth. Rookie Landon Cassill ran sixth, a career best in the series.
Edwards was third for a restart on Lap 146 of the 200-lap race, chasing Leffler and seventh-place finisher James Buescher, both of whom had taken two tires under a caution caused by a wreck involving Keselowski and David Reutimann , who entered the race second and third, respectively, in the series standings.
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