CP MOTORSPORTS - EDWARDS DOMINATES BRISTOL, MAINTAINS JOE GIBBS RACING'S HOT STREAK
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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