With wins not really mattering in the grand scheme of the championship for either Busch or Edwards after today (both have two, enough to formally guarantee a spot in the Chase in the event that there are more race winners than Chase spots come September, though conventional wisdom says that 17 different winners in 26 races is exceedingly unlikely anyway), the win doesn’t really change the landscape of the season at all, but it’s a nice result nonetheless for a driver who didn’t quite meet expectations in his one-win 2015 campaign. Reed Sorenson was 40th and last, 10 laps down. Instead, Edwards focused on the reason they are racing: to win.
Advertisement
Carl Edwards nudged teammate Kyle Busch aside on the final turn to win the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway on Sunday. We started really loose to start the race and got intot he wall, there, and we had to make some more adjustments after I self-adjusted it. “We haven’t talked”. “I just wanted to move him out of the way”.
Then Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl winning coach of the Washington Redskins, added: “There’s no game plan for it”.
“What you do is you just start out and work your way through it, and that’s what we’ll do”, he said.
Edwards, who had fallen almost 1.5 seconds behind his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate after a restart with 36 laps to go, gradually ran him down until the final lap. With one to go, Edwards knew that the race would likely be JGR’s fourth-straight win no matter what happened, and when he saw the opportunity to take his second short track win in a row, he made his move. It’s like he just got really slow right there at the end.
“So I thought, ‘Man, I’m going to give him a little nudge, ‘ and we both have got wins and we’re racing for fun getting these trophies”.
“We went out there and made our qualifying run off the truck and then focused in on race trim thinking that we weren’t going to qualify anyway”, he said. We’re going to mainly take this time to emphasize just how awesome his four-wide move on an early-race restart was.
After falling so far behind, Edwards was surprised to finally find himself in position to challenge for the victory. So I think today was a great day for the sport. “Kyle was so good for that run”. I was just doing everything I could. He never spun his tires.
Busch seemed less than amused after being denied his third victory in the last four races.
“We had a really great vehicle…and just kind of gave it up a little bit there on the last lap, but I guess that’s racing”. We were fast – maybe not as good as Carl on the long run.
Johnson, who led 44 laps on the day, finished third followed by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne and Harvick.
Lap Leaders: K.Harvick 1-21; J.Johnson 22-63; C.Edwards 64; J.Johnson 65; C.Edwards 66-89; D.Hamlin 90; J.Johnson 91; M.Kenseth 92-93; C.Edwards 94-157; Ky.Busch 158-168; C.Edwards 169-196; Ky.Busch 197; C.Edwards 198-229; K.Harvick 230-270; B.Keselowski 271-273; K.Harvick 274; B.Keselowski 275-277; Ku.Busch 278-286; Ky.Busch 287-314; Ku.Busch 315-360; Ky.Busch 361-363; C.Edwards 364; Ky.Busch 365-399; C.Edwards 400. Carl led the most with 151, for a total of 626 and taking over the points lead from Kevin Harvick. It’s one of the best scenarios an owner can have with two of his drivers running first and second but it can come with some anxious moments.
But Rahal couldn’t challenge Pagenaud again.
Making his first start after missing eight races due to a back injury, Tony Stewart was able to battle back from a blown tire that put him a lap down.
Force held off two-time defending race victor Antron Brown, along with Doug Kalitta and Clay Millican, at zMAX Dragway.
Advertisement
Force, the victor last month in Gainesville, Florida, for her first career victory, is the daughter of Funny Car star John Force.
