Kenseth, who led 142 laps at Bristol before his tire troubles put him into the wall, continues to knock on the door to Victory Lane with his Toyota.
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Edwards led 276 laps, the most of all drivers in the race that took just over three hours and fifteen minutes to complete at the.533-mile track. “We were close. That last restart just spun the ‘ole tires”. “We were just lucky on those restarts as to where we lined up and that really helped us”. Edwards was actually the only member of the Joe Gibbs Racing Team not to experience tires issues, as his teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth both connected with the wall after experiencing tire malfunctions.
Perhaps most importantly, Busch’s second win of the season virtually secures his place as one of the 16 drivers who will contend for the championship title in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the final 10 races of the NASCAR season.
Kenseth led the field back to green on Lap 78.
“I have no idea what the issue was”.
“For us to get a sixth place run, I am sorry I am so emotional”. “We drove up from the back to the front a couple of times and showed what we were made of. This one blew a lot earlier and the angle was a lot worse hitting the wall”. “But it doesn’t matter when you are in the garage”. “But on the XFINITY Series side, I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy as it’s going to be a little different this weekend with the heat races and things like that”.
“I have the best teammates in the business”, said Edwards, who would go on to win the race, free of those kinds of tire problems.
Edwards, however, was the only JGR driver not to suffer the same fate.
“I’m really, really happy with being with Dave”, Edwards said. Now we are in the (Sprint Cup) Chase so we can go have some fun.
Behind Edwards, the racing was entertaining with multiple contenders in the winner’s rear view mirror. Kenseth is the defending race victor and has earned two of his four Bristol victories in the past five Bristol events at the track.
“The pit crew, the road crew, everyone gets along so good, and Carl treats us with a lot of respect”, Rogers said.
“I just had a really good Kelley Blue Book/NAPA Chevrolet”, Elliott said. On the restart, Busch took the lead from Truex with 33 to go and never looked back recording his second career Cup win at the Fort Worth track. That set up an interesting predicament, as it was well within the fuel window, but the question was would teams come in for fresh tires. “I just didn’t quite get there”.
“I’m not sure what happened”, Busch said. “I am proud of the effort”. He had six top-five finishes, including three in the top five, during the first seven races this year. Bayne also had a mid-race calamity to overcome that dropped him some twenty positions. “My team did a good job in the pits”.
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“I have no idea”, he said during the Fox broadcast. Harvick finished seventh, and Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano finished eighth through 10th, respectively. Kevin Harvick pulled in to first place in the NASCAR Sprint Cupdrivers standings after another Top 10 finish. “We’d go to the throttle and the thing would shut off, and those guys were gone by then”.
