GLADEVILLE - Carl Edwards became the first driver to win both races in one season at the Nashville Superspeedway Saturday, leading 49 of 225 laps to win the Federated Auto Parts 300, his third win at the track, and his third victory in one week.
"The engine ran really well," Edwards said. "I could pull up on anybody and just chase him down. It's really great to win here three times in a row."
Edwards won the Busch race at Dover International Speedway last Saturday and the Prelude to a Dream dirt track race for Victory Junction Gang Camp at Eldora before pulling off another double-duty weekend, traveling between Nashville and Pocono for the Cup race.
Edwards has run a full schedule in both the Cup and Busch series for three years, but said he feels he is gaining twice as much experience each season.
"I'd be out in Pocono with a metal detector looking for something to do," Edwards said about what he would be doing if not racing in Nashville. "But we had fun yesterday, I found four dollars."
Clint Bowyer was second, followed by Jason Leffler, Scott Wimmer, and Regan Smith.
"There weren't many cautions tonight," Bowyer said. "We needed a caution to get tires, needed the track position..but it didn't work out."
The race had five cautions for 25 laps, beginning with a yellow flag on the first lap, shown after Kertus Davis and Kyle Krisiloff got together on the frontstretch.
"It was really good for us," Leffler said of his finish. "We had a great car in practice, but we didn't qualify as well as we wanted. On the last restart, I got stuck behind some guys."
Pole-sitter Steven Wallace finished 12th, followed by Mt. Juliet native Bobby Hamilton, Jr. Hamilton spent 127 laps in the top-10, and was the last car on the lead lap.
Edwards now has a 662-point lead over Kevin Harvick in the Series, and is one win away from becoming only the eighth driver in Series history to win four races in the first 15 of a season.
"He's the guy we've been chasing all year long," Leffler said. "It's pretty easy to figure out, if you're pretty close to him, if you can see him in your sights, you are having a good day."


How other double-duty drivers fared:
*Mike Bliss finished 16th in a car prepared for him by Carlos Contreras, who was celebrating his 37th birthday.
"Today is my birthday," Contreras said Friday. "And the team has given me a great gift."
Contreras has been driving select road course races, and hadn't driven on an oval since the Homestead race six months ago. It was his first time to drive a Busch car on a concrete track, having only raced on concrete once before, in the Truck Series at Dover.
*J.J. Yeley finished 18th, in a car prepared Friday by Nashville's own Chad Chaffin.
"I'm thankful for the opportunity to practice the car and try to get it good for when J.J. shows up," Chaffin said. "I've known James Finch for a long time, so it's cool to finally get to drive for him."
Chaffin said he enjoyed the opportunity to help Yeley while he traveled, especially since Chaffin only had to travel five minutes from his home to the track.