Carl Edwards caught Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch on the last lap of the 62nd Annual Toyota Owners 400 and pushed him up the track to steal his second Sprint Cup Series win in a row. Carl Edwards clearly had the fastest car throughout the event, leading a race high 151 laps turned, but it was the defending Sprint Cup champion that was in the first with one lap left to go.
Kyle Busch grabbed the lead on lap 365 after the re-start on the race’s eighth and final caution. It looked as if Busch would once again use a superb pit stop to get to the front and drive away from the field yet again but Carl Edwards #19 Ixfinity Toyota caught him with one lap to go. Edwards dove into Turn one and sucked up to Busch’s bumper heading into Turn two. As the two hot-rods flew down the .75 mile oval’s backstretch Edwards positioned himself to get to the inside of the #18 Banfield Toyota of Busch.
When Carl Edwards saw the opportunity, he once again steered his race car to the inside of teammate Kyle Busch at the entry into turn three. This time Edwards was able to position his car far enough forward to catch the inside of the Joe Gibbs owned #18 Toyota Camry. Carl Edwards then applied a little finesse by bumping Busch’s left rear, sending the driver up the track and into second. Edwards took over the lead in the fourth and final turn and took the checkered flag for the second race in a row.
“Kyle’s an amazing teammate, and it’s like he got really slow there at the end,” Edwards said in Victory Lane. “Something happened that last lap. It was like his rear tires went off or something. He went down into Turn one and I dove it in and I got to him and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got something.’
“And he went to get down to the bottom and park it in Turns three and four, and I had already decided to go down there, 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 and (it was) just an awesome day.”
After the dust had settled and Carl Edwards was celebrating in victory lane, the off-track reporters caught up with his teammate Kyle Busch. Everyone was curious as to what the usually outspoken Busch thought about the aggressiveness Edwards displayed by nudging his own ally up the track to steal the victory. Busch’s radio came alive as he was pushed up the track…”We did everything right — be smart,” Busch was told on his intercom.
When Kyle Busch’s feet were put to the fire by the press in his off-track interview he responded by saying…
“Our Banfield Camry was real awesome today,” Busch said. “We had a great race car. My guys made some awesome adjustments to it. It was really good for us to have an opportunity to run and race for the win like that. My guys give me great race cars each and every week. We continue to have fast Camrys. We’ll be continuing to run up front and race for wins.”
The response surprised the fans and interviewers alike. In my humble opinion it shows that the defending Sprint Cup champion was sincere when he said his on-track attitude has changed since his disastrous wreck to begin the 2015 campaign.
Jimmie Johnson and his #48 Lowes sponsored Chevrolet proved he could challenge for the win by leading 44 laps in the contest. Johnson was fast throughout the afternoon and fell a little short of victory in the third position. Kasey Kahne, Johnson’s teammate and fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver, finished an impressive fourth, continuing his consistency over the last three events.
Kevin Harvick started the race out front and finished in the fifth position. The #4 Busch Light Chevrolet looked strong from start to finish and led 63 revolutions of the 400 turned. Harvick finished just ahead of the other Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Hamlin only led one lap during the contest and Kenseth tacked on another two.
Kurt Busch finished a few back of eighth place finisher Joey Logano. Busch showed plenty of speed throughout the affair by driving to the front on a few different occasions and lead 55 of the 400 laps turned. Logano appeared to not have what it takes to guide his #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford into the top ten but received another outstanding pit stop that allowed him to hold off the faster #41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet of Busch.
The 62nd Annual running of the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway took a little over three hours to complete. There were eight cautions for 49 total laps and the margin of victory was .675 seconds. There were 23 lead changes during the race and the average speed of the competitors was 97.07 miles per hour.
Results for the 62nd Annual Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway:
1. Carl Edwards
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kasey Kahne
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Matt Kenseth
8. Joey Logano
9. Martin Truex Jr.
10. Kurt Busch
11. Brad Keselowski
12. Chase Elliott
13. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
14. Greg Biffle
15. Kyle Larson
16. Jamie McMurray
17. Trevor Bayne
18. Ryan Newman
19. Tony Stewart
20. Austin Dillon
21. Aric Almirola
22. Paul Menard
23. David Ragan
24. Danica Patrick
25. AJ Allmendinger
26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
27. Landon Cassill
28. Ryan Blaney
29. Casey Mears
30. Matt DiBenedetto
31. Michael McDowell
32. Regan Smith
33. Clint Bowyer
34. Chris Buescher
35. Brian Scott
36. Michael Annett
37. Ryan Ellis
38. Jeffrey Earnhardt
39. Josh Wise
40. Reed Sorenson
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