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On a day which saw his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates facing diasaster, Carl Edwards was able to maintain the lap position he gained by qualifying on the pole and lead XXX of the race's 500 laps. The victory for Edwards marks the fourth time Edwards has visited Victory Lane at the "World's Fastest Half-Mile".

Edwards' No. 19 Comcast Business Toyota was strong enough to drive away from Dale Earnhardt, Jr, and Kurt Busch on the race's final restart with just ten laps to go. Edwards' JGR teammates Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin all suffered from tire failures at some point in the race, this made Edwards nervous as the race grew older.

"I have the best teammates in the business, and if they can have trouble, I can surely have trouble," Edwards explained. "I was nervous about it, but (crew chief) Dave (Rogers) did a good job of talking to me about how hard we were pushing the tires and what we had going on there, so I felt pretty comfortable after talking to Dave after a couple stops."

The win all but assures Edwards a spot in NASCAR's Chase for the Championship. He joins JGR teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin as being locked into the field. The win for Edwards was a culmination of a very fast weekend, according to the driver himself.

"It started on Friday -- well, started this winter building these cars but the car was really fast in qualifying, got the first pit stall, and that meant a lot to the guys," Edwards said. "They were ready to put last week immediately behind them, and they did. They were just flawless on pit road. The car was really fast, and Dave (Rogers) did a good job of managing everything. We didn't have any trouble, and really it's just a testament to everybody at the shop and our whole team.  

"Really awesome to have a win so now we can really have some fun and focus on this championship.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr, faced adversity from the drop of the green flag, literally. On the start of the race, Earnhardt, Jr's battery was dead which didn't allow him to get up to speed. Earnhardt's crew was able to fix the issue but by the time he came back on track they were two laps down to the leaders. 

Through strategy and smart driver Earnhardt, Jr, put himself in position to score a win. He battled hard with Kurt Busch on the afformentioned restart but the duo's battle only served as a buffer to help Edwards margin of victory grow larger. Busch eventually lost the battle for second and was forced to settle for a third place finish.

The driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet finished in second place last week at Texas Motor Speedway believes he was able to fight back for a good finish through patience. When asked what kept him from panicking, NASCAR's 12-time Most Popular Driver had a pretty simple answer.

"I turned 40," Earnhardt, Jr, said. "I quit panicking. It is what it is these days."

Earnhardt, Jr, who was once the sport's young up-and-comer has matured into a patient race car driver.

"You know, as I got older, I tried harder to enjoy what I'm doing and not get really upset and too out of shape when things aren't going our way," Earnhardt, Jr, said. "Plus I know (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and them guys are on the pit box trying everything they can, and for me to -- they're the only ones I'm going to be able to yell at, so for me to -- it doesn't do any good to be hollering at them or upset or just lose your mind." 

For rookie Chase Elliott, a fourth place finish is a Sprint Cup series career best. The 2014 Xfinity series champion, Elliott, knows having fast cars is going to be the key to gaining finishes like the one at Bristol.

"I think it just comes back to having a good car, and I thought our guys did a really good job throughout the weekend," Elliott said. "We didn't start off like we wanted to, but we were able to kind of work through some things, lean on our teammates a lot. Friday night, kind of looked at some notes and what our teammates were doing that we felt like they were doing really well and I feel like that saved us a lot this weekend, just to try to get in the ballpark and then start fine tuning what we needed personally."

"I am just proud of the effort, and definitely a cool place.  Looking forward to getting back here in the fall and trying to do a little better. "

Trevor Bayne finished in fifth place with BK Racing's Matt DiBenedetto finishing in sixth place. The finish for DiBenedetto, the driver of the No. 83 Cosmo Motors Toyota, is the highest finish in the history of BK Racing. It also nearly brought DiBenedetto to tears. Race winner Carl Edwards was wowed by the performance.

"Man, that's unbelievable," Edwards admitted. "That's probably tougher than what we did.  That's a real testament to them.

Edwards believes a good finish in this series is sometimes more impressive than winning.

"I was telling somebody on top, what makes these races so special, and I think I can speak for everybody up here, is that this competition is so tough" Edwards explained. "These guys are all so good, and on TV it might look like, oh, those guys are struggling or oh, that's a lap car, whatever.  They're only a half a tenth off or a tenth off.  It's just unreal how hard everybody goes.

"A good finish in this series is a real accomplishment."

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 8
Unofficial Race Results for the 56Th Annual Food City 500 - Sunday, April 17, 2016
Bristol Motor Speedway - Bristol, TN - .533 Mile Concrete
Total Race Length - 500 Laps - 266.5 Miles

Leader
Fin    Str    Car    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Status    Tms    Laps
1    1    19    Carl Edwards    Comcast Business Toyota    500    45    5    145.7    Running    8    276
2    20    88    Dale Earnhardt Jr.    Nationwide Chevrolet    500    39        95.2    Running        
3    26    41    Kurt Busch    Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevrolet    500    39    1    108.9    Running    1    41
4    19    24    Chase Elliott #    Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet    500    37        95.3    Running        
5    10    6    Trevor Bayne    AdvoCare Ford    500    36        82.3    Running        
6    30    83    Matt DiBenedetto    Cosmo Motors Toyota    500    35        66.5    Running        
7    7    4    Kevin Harvick    ditech Chevrolet    500    35    1    119.9    Running    1    13
8    36    15    Clint Bowyer    5-hour Energy Chevrolet    500    33        58.2    Running        
9    17    31    Ryan Newman    WIX Chevrolet    500    32        81.8    Running        
10    3    22    Joey Logano    Autotrader Ford    500    32    1    105.2    Running    2    4
11    18    21    * Ryan Blaney #    Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford    500    30        93.5    Running        
12    23    16    Greg Biffle    Roush Performance Ford    500    29        74.6    Running        
13    13    1    Jamie McMurray    McDonald's Chevrolet    500    28        76.9    Running        
14    8    78    Martin Truex Jr.    Furniture Row Toyota    500    27        104.8    Running        
15    14    27    Paul Menard    Tarkett/Menards Chevrolet    500    27    1    70.7    Running    1    4
16    32    17    Ricky Stenhouse Jr.    Zest Ford    500    25        65.0    Running        
17    11    5    Kasey Kahne    Great Clips Chevrolet    500    24        92.5    Running        
18    12    2    Brad Keselowski    Miller Lite Ford    500    23        77.7    Running        
19    9    47    AJ Allmendinger    Bush's Beans Chevrolet    500    22        90.3    Running        
20    4    11    Denny Hamlin    FedEx Freight Toyota    500    21        79.3    Running        
21    21    34    Chris Buescher #    Love's Travel Stops Ford    500    20        57.4    Running        
22    28    38    Landon Cassill    Snap Fitness Ford    500    20    1    64.0    Running    1    20
23    6    48    Jimmie Johnson    Lowe's Chevrolet    499    18        81.5    Running        
24    16    13    Casey Mears    GEICO Chevrolet    499    17        55.2    Running        
25    34    14    Ty Dillon(i)    Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet    499    0        59.2    Running        
26    15    3    Austin Dillon    Bass Pro Shops/Ranger Boats Chevrolet    498    15        49.3    Running        
27    33    10    Danica Patrick    Nature's Bakery Chevrolet    498    14        45.7    Running        
28    39    98    * Cole Whitt    Chevrolet    496    13        35.2    Running        
29    31    95    Michael McDowell    KLove Radio Chevrolet    495    12        40.5    Running        
30    27    44    Brian Scott #    Shore Lodge Ford    493    11        41.3    Running        
31    40    46    Michael Annett    Pilot Flying J Chevrolet    492    10        31.0    Running        
32    37    32    Jeffrey Earnhardt #    Keen Parts/Visone RV Ford    488    9        33.0    Running        
33    35    30    * Josh Wise    Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet    482    8        36.9    Running        
34    22    43    Aric Almirola    Smithfield Ford    479    7        45.5    Running        
35    25    42    Kyle Larson    Target Chevrolet    462    6        71.5    Running        
36    2    20    Matt Kenseth    Dollar General Toyota    460    6    1    92.3    Running    3    142
37    29    7    Regan Smith    APC Chevrolet    451    4        32.0    Accident        
38    5    18    Kyle Busch    M&M's Toyota    258    3        66.6    Accident        
39    24    23    David Ragan    Dr Pepper Toyota    211    2        25.9    Engine        
40    38    55    * Reed Sorenson    ChampionMachinery.com Chevrolet    169    1        23.3    Suspension        
 Race Comments:    Carl Edwards won the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, his 26th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. No cars dropped to the rear of the field at the start of the race.  
 Failed to Qualify:    N/A
 Time of Race:    3 Hrs, 15 Mins, 52 Secs.    Average Speed:    81.637 MPH    Margin of Victory:    0.766 Seconds
 Caution Flags:    15 for 102 laps: Laps: 53-58 (#18 Accident in Turn 2 [95]); 71-77 (#17 and 34 Accident in Turn 2 [98]); 117-121 (#2, 18 and 34 Accident in Turn 2 [95]); 148-154 (#42 Accident in Turn 2 [44]); 188-193 (#20 Accident in Turn 2 [17]); 219-226 (Fluid in Turn 3 [15]); 260-273 (#18 Accident in Turn 2 [95]); 331-336 (Debris in Turn 2 [27]); 340-344 (#13, 46 and 47 Accident in Turn 1 [83]); 350-355 (#44 Accident in Turn 2 [43]); 411-416 (#11 Accident in Turn 2 [34]); 438-448 (#3, 43, 78 Accident in Turn 4 [47]); 461-466 (#14 and 38 Accident in Turn 2 [78]); 486-490 (#4 and 46 Accident in Turn 4 [2]); 492-495 (#7 and 10 Accident in Turn 4 [11]).
 Lead Changes:    16 among 7 drivers: C. Edwards 1-36; J. Logano 37-39; C. Edwards 40-42; M. Kenseth 43-53; J. Logano 54; M. Kenseth 55-117; C. Edwards 118; M. Kenseth 119-186; C. Edwards 187-189; P. Menard 190-193; C. Edwards 194-261; L. Cassill 262-281; C. Edwards 282-318; K. Harvick 319-331; C. Edwards 332-355; Kurt Busch 356-396; C. Edwards 397-500.
Chase Grid Outlook:     1.J. Johnson 271 (2 wins);2.Kyle Busch 262 (2);3.K. Harvick 287 (1);4.C. Edwards 286 (1);5.B. Keselowski 224 (1);6.D. Hamlin 222 (1);7.J. Logano 266 (0);8.D. Earnhardt Jr. 250 (0);9.Kurt Busch 247 (0);10.M. Truex Jr. 214 (0);11.A. Dillon 213 (0);12.C. Elliott # 205 (0);13.J. Mcmurray 199 (0);14.A. Allmendinger 188 (0);15.K. Kahne 185 (0);16.R. Newman 182 (0).
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award    : Kyle Busch, #18     Ingersoll Rand Power Move    : Matt DiBenedetto, #83 9 positions
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race    : Toyota Racing Development (TRD), #19     Mobil 1 Driver of the Race    : Carl Edwards, #19 
Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race    : Kurt Busch, #41 crew chief Tony Gibson, 0.148 seconds    Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap    : Carl Edwards, #19 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race    : Chase Elliott, #24 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    Apr. 24, 2016 - Richmond International Raceway