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Race Recap: Edwards doubles down in Las Vegas with two wins in a row
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Carl
Edwards is one cool customer.
Overcoming adversity in several different forms, the Missouri
native charged home the winner Sunday of the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway.
It was Edwards' second NASCAR
Sprint Cup victory in a row.... actually in a week since he won the
weather-delayed race Monday in California.
Edwards held the top spot for the
last 29 laps of the race after passing Matt Kenseth for the lead.
Twice during the race, Edwards
raced his way back into contention after being forced to start the
race twice, way back in the field.
Problems in the pits seemed to be
the order of the day for Edwards and his pit crew, but at least one
incident during a pit stop played out in his favor. A tire rolled
across the pit road off his car after a television camerman interfered
with the crew. The cameraman blocked a crew member's path and NASCAR
officials, who would normally invoke a penalty for a tire rolling out
of control in the pits, deemed it unavoidable on the part of Edwards'
crew.
Edwards beat Dale Earnhardt Jr.
across the finish line after a wild wreck involving four-time champion
Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.
Bunched up after a restart,
Gordon and Kenseth were attempting to pass Earnhardt going into the
first turn. Coming off the second turn, Gordon nudged Kenseth. The
contact turned Kenseth around and sent Gordon speeding toward the
inside retaining wall. The ensuing impact knocked the radiator out of
Gordon's car.
The four-time champion was unhurt.
Greg Biffle finished third,
Kevin Harvick fourth, and Jeff Burton fifth.
Kasey Kahne was sixth, followed
by David Ragan, Travis Kvapil, Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin.
Kyle Busch, an early contender, was
11th after struggling in the final stages of the race with his car's
setup.
Kenseth was also relegated to a poor finish (20th) after running
up front through the race.
Edwards is leading the Spint Cup
point standings for the first time in his career.
Pole-sitter Kyle Busch streaked away at
the start, but Edwards passed him for the lead before 30 laps had been
compiled.
The United States Air Force Thunderbirds had roared across the
blue, cloudless skies to get the race off to a spectacular start.
David Reutimann and Jamie McMurray
encountered early problems and fell way behind. David Reutimann
scraped the wall, and McMurray spun, which brought out the first
caution of the race.
By the time the field had covered
60 laps, four drivers had been penalized for speeding on pit road,
Biffle, Kurt Busch, Mike Skinner and Elliott Sadler.
Debris -- an exhaust pipe piece --
on the track brought out the second caution of the day on lap 70. When
things resumed under racing conditions, the running order had Burton
in front of the field.
Earnhardt Jr., was second,
followed by Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Scott Riggs, Tony Stewart,
Kenseth, Edwards, Ryan Newman and Gordon.
Another caution waved on lap 109
when Stewart blew a right front tire and slammed hard into the
retaining wall between turns three and four. The impact was the
hardest Stewart said he could remember.
Kyle Busch had the lead on the restart with Kenseth right
behind him. Kenseth, however, took the lead a lap later and Gordon
moved to second spot. Jeff Burton was fourth behind Busch. Earnhardt
Jr. was fifth.
Defending Sprint Cup champion
Jimmie Johnson wrestled with an ill-handling car from the git-go and
sputtered around in the back of the pack, way off the leading pace. |
