After the frustration of what happened at Auto Club, it’s understandable why he blew off the media interview, especially when there’s always potential for fines to come down for saying the wrong things in the heat of the moment.
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Edwards entertained the crowd with his trademark backflip after dominating the Food CIty 500 and driving to victory lane Sunday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway. He could have, but it wouldn’t have rang as true.
Edwards led for the final 104 laps and 233 of the final 307 circuits while keeping the No. 19 Comcast Business Toyota on the point during seven of eight re-starts in the last 164 laps, including the final five in the final 84. Kenseth won the race off pit road, with Edwards coming out in the second position. “It started on Friday well, started this winter building these cars”.
Edwards started on the pole and led a race-high 276 (of 500) laps.
“At no point did I ever feel like I had the race under control”, Edwards said. “We weren’t really that good all day”, he said.
Both Edwards and Rogers have had winding paths to their pairing for 2016.
Edwards restarted the race on Lap 356 with the lead, but quickly lost it to Ku.
Can anybody beat Joe Gibbs Racing? “… We drove up from the back to the front a couple times and showed what we were made of, but obviously it doesn’t matter when you’re in the garage”.
Three-time victor (2007, 2008, 2014) – one of the best since half-mile track repaved in 2007. Edwards is second in points, Busch fifth and Hamlin ninth, and each has reached victory lane. “We didn’t have any trouble and really it’s a testament to everybody at the shop and our whole team”, he said, noting that he has all but secured his spot for the Chase for the Sprint Cup at the end of the year. “I guess today wasn’t meant to be”. I hate it for all these guys, all the work and effort and everybody at M&M’s – all our M&M’s and Mars associates. We didn’t have the auto to win, maybe top 10.
“And I’m not just saying this because he won this race, but he’s already like a brother. Hopefully we’ll get it figured out for next time”. They were just flawless on pit road. “They understand nobody else is having the same issues”.
“Just awesome”, Edwards said. Retirees seasonally thing great job. He hit the wall after two right-front tire failures and the spin came off the bumper of Chris Buescher after a few cars jammed up ahead of Busch. He credited that with helping have the team bounce back this week after making the mistake at Texas last week. “It was just a good day”. I know how tough this weekend is going to be.”We ran a set-up we’d never run here before”, said Earnhardt, Jr. It was Bayne’s best finish since winning the Daytona 500 in 2011. Pit strategy gave Landon Cassill a 20-lap stretch at the front of the pack and Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch each ran down Edwards in traffic and snagged the lead for a time.
Rookie Elliott, like teammate Earnhardt, had to overcome problems that took him off the lead lap.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who collided with teammate Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner, finished second, 37.7 seconds behind Rosberg, while Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat used an aggressive race strategy to take third – only the second podium of the 21-year-old’s career.
“Everybody pushes it”, said Edwards.
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It might have been.
