Carl Edwards drove to the lead after an impressive pit stop and held on for a must-win at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday Night. Now, the Joe Gibbs racer has earned a berth into the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup final.
It wasn’t easy, as Carl Edwards had to hold the lead after two restarts to claim Joe Gibbs Racing’s first win of the Chase. In the regular season, the four man team won 11 of the 26 events on the circuit.
Carl Edwards #19 Toyota Camry took the lead once and for on Lap 258 of the 293 laps ran. Obviously, the race was shortened from the original 334-lap distance by an evening thunder storm.
The savvy driver took advantage of a speedy final pit stop and led the last 36 laps. The victory was Edwards third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of 2016, and also the 28th overall triumph of his career. It was also his fourth win at the high-banked half-mile oval.
Most importantly, Carl Edwards victory locked him in to the final at Miami-Homestaed Speedway with a chance to win his first Sprint Cup championship on November 20th. Jimmie Johnson, who took the checkered flag at Martinsville last weekend, is the other speedster that has won his way into the final.
“This is huge. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” Carl Edwards said. “This is cool. This team has really worked hard all year and man, it’s just really cool. That’s all we said we needed was a shot and now we’re going to go to Homestead and we’re also going to do what we have to do. This also was a great test. We came here and knew what we had to do, we performed the way we needed to and I really believe we can do that at Homestead.”
The AAA Texas 500 started six hours later than scheduled because of rain showers that began at the start of the event. The stoppage pushed the second to last Chase race from a 12:00 p.m. start time to an event the was decide under the lights.
With only 41 laps remaining, the AAA Texas 500 was halted because of rain once again. Penske Racing’s Joey Logano, another driver needing a win, finished in the runner-up spot. The aggressive driver was followed by Martin Truex Jr. in the third spot. Hendrick Motorsport’s racer Chase Elliott came in fourth and was followed by Chase drivers Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.
Joey Logano had the car to beat in the first session of the race. Logano snatched the lead from pole-sitter Austin Dillon on the first green flag lap and held it for 165 of the first 167. The controversial competitor also entered the race with 159 laps led in his 16 previous races at Texas Motor Speedway.
“I mean, when you’re that close to winning and you lead the most laps, second stings,” Logano said after his fourth runner-up finish of the season. “That’s our goal every week, is to win. Anything short of that is a failure. I also feel like we were so close to that today.”
Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who won two contests in the Chase’s first round, passed Logano for the lead by pitting a lap earlier on Lap 147. At that point, Carl Edwards also passed Logano for the second spot. Eventually, Truex Jr. pulled away to as much as a two second lead before a caution on Lap 254 re-set the field.
Kyle Busch, last year’s Sprint Cup champion, came back from mid-race crisis to finish in the top five. The Joe Gibbs driver, lost time during a lengthy pit stop after the fifth caution.
His pit crew repaired some front-end damage on his #18 M&M’s Toyota. Eventually, “Rowdy” Busch’s team fixed the front of his car after he struck a loose brake part on the track’s backstretch.
Austin Dillon, who was awarded the Coors Light Pole after qualifying, led the opening five laps as the race began under green-yellow conditions. The green-yellow circuits were turned in hopes of helping dry out the 1.5 mile speedway.
The Childress Racing stand-out came back from a spin that brought out the contest’s sixth caution. Unfortunately, he wrecked his hot-rod just seven laps later when he was bumped by veteran driver Kevin Harvick and finished out in 37th. Dillon’s team made it clear to their driver that the bump was intentionally done to wreck the youngster.
Now, Kevin Harvick trails Joey Logano and Kyle Busch by 18 points heading into the final race of the Chase’s Round of 8. Harvick likely needs a victory next Sunday at Phoenix to advance to the Championship race for the third straight year. All is not lost for Harvick fans, the feisty driver has drove to victory in five of the last six races at Phoenix.
Likewise, Stewart-Haas teammate Kurt Busch is in a must-win position. Busch finished 20th on Sunday and enters the Phoenix race eighth in the Chase standings, 34 points behind his younger sibling Kyle Busch.
Results from the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway:
1. (9) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 293 laps, 0 rating, 44 points.
2. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 293, 0, 41.
3. (12) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 293, 0, 39.
4. (11) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 293, 0, 38.
5. (24) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 293, 0, 37.
6. (3) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 293, 0, 35.
7. (7) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 293, 0, 34.
8. (31) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 293, 0, 33.
9. (17) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 293, 0, 33.
10. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 293, 0, 31.
11. (19) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 293, 0, 30.
12. (8) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 293, 0, 29.
13. (16) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 293, 0, 0.
14. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 293, 0, 27.
15. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 293, 0, 26.
16. (20) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 293, 0, 25.
17. (14) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 293, 0, 24.
18. (25) Greg Biffle, Ford, 292, 0, 23.
19. (15) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 292, 0, 22.
20. (10) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 292, 0, 21.
21. (30) Chris Buescher, Ford, 292, 0, 20.
22. (21) Aric Almirola, Ford, 292, 0, 19.
23. (28) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 291, 0, 18.
24. (22) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 291, 0, 17.
25. (27) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 291, 0, 16.
26. (32) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 291, 0, 15.
27. (29) Brian Scott, Ford, 291, 0, 14.
28. (6) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 290, 0, 13.
29. (34) Landon Cassill, Ford, 290, 0, 12.
30. (26) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 289, 0, 11.
31. (23) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 288, 0, 10.
32. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 287, 0, 9.
33. (36) David Ragan, Toyota, 287, 0, 9.
34. (33) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota, 285, 0, 7.
35. (38) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 285, 0, 6.
36. (39) Joey Gase, Ford, 280, 0, 0.
37. (1) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, accident, 262, 0, 5.
38. (35) Ryan Ellis, Toyota, 261, 0, 0.
39. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, accident, 260, 0, 2.
40. (40) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, electrical, 257, 0, 1.
Race Statistics:
Average Speed of Race Winner: 137.274 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 16 minutes.
Margin of Victory: seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 37 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 8 drivers.
