Carl Edwards wins Milwaukee Nationwide race

Published 9:18 pm Saturday, June 20, 2009

WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Carl Edwards made the most of his one-day Wisconsin getaway, winning Saturday’s Nationwide series race at the Milwaukee Mile after taking a brief break from his Sprint Cup duties in California.

It’s a repeat victory at Milwaukee and the first Nationwide win of this season for Edwards, who took the lead from fellow Cup commuter Kyle Busch with 44 laps left in the race and wasn’t significantly challenged the rest of the way.

Edwards, who also won last year’s race at the Mile, did his customary backflip on the frontstretch after taking the checkered flag Saturday.

“It’s good,” Edwards said. “We’ve not been as competitive as we could have been, and should have been, all year.”

Busch finished second, followed by Brad Keselowski.

And he wasn’t happy about it.

“I’m not here to finish second,” Busch said. “I traveled all this way to win the race and I didn’t win the race.”

Rookie Erik Darnell, a part-time Nationwide driver who qualified on the pole earlier Saturday, was running second in the late stages of the race but slipped to fourth at the finish.

Edwards and Busch flew more than 2,000 miles from California earlier in the day, missing qualifying for Saturday’s race — meaning they would have to start at the back of the pack after replacement drivers qualified their cars— but arriving in time to take the green flag.

Both drivers quickly made up ground once the green flag dropped, climbing into the top 20 only 18 laps into the race and into the top 10 by lap 55.

Busch then took over the lead on lap 123, coming off pit road first after a round of pit stops under caution. But Edwards began to gain ground on Busch during a subsequent long green-flag run, and some drama developed as a piece of metal began dragging and sparking near Busch’s right-rear wheel.

Busch’s crew turned in another fast stop under caution on lap 194, getting him off pit road ahead of Edwards, Keselowski and Steve Wallace. But Busch couldn’t shake loose of Edwards after the restart, and Edwards took the lead with 44 laps to go — just as Brad Coleman, who spent much of the first half of the race running in the top five, crashed to bring out a caution.

“I knew that Carl was better than us all night,” Busch said. “He fell behind a little bit with track position. He seemed to get that back. He went up there and passed us and won the race. Our car wasn’t that strong, it was real loose if I tried to drive it any harder.”

Darnell then took second place from Busch with 30 laps to go, making a bold move to the outside through Turns 1 and 2. Busch retook second place in the closing laps, but it was too late to challenge Edwards for the win.

“I (stink) here,” Busch said. “This is one of my worst tracks. I finished second, so I guess I should be happy.”

It was a breakout performance by 21-year-old former USAC standout Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who took over the lead on lap 56. In only his fourth career start in the series for the powerhouse Roush Fenway team, the Olive Branch, Miss., native held the lead through a round of green-flag pit stops until Keselowski passed him on lap 105. Stenhouse finished fifth.

Ron Hornaday Jr., who celebrated his 51st birthday by winning the Camping World Truck series race earlier Saturday, was penalized for speeding on pit road early but rebounded to finish ninth. The trucks race originally was scheduled to run Friday night, but was postponed because of rain.

After making the long flight back to California, Busch is slated to start second in Sunday’s Sprint Cup road race at Sonoma. Edwards will start 34th.

1. (11) Carl Edwards, Ford, 250 laps, 124.4 rating, 190 points.

2. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 250, 125.6, 180.

3. (5) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 250, 124.1, 170.

4. (1) Erik Darnell, Ford, 250, 104.4, 165.

5. (4) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 250, 119.9, 160.

6. (28) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, 250, 96.8, 150.

7. (18) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 250, 98.4, 146.

8. (6) Stephen Leicht, Chevrolet, 250, 110.1, 147.

9. (13) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 250, 95.2, 138.

10. (8) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 250, 98.3, 134.

11. (20) Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, 250, 86.7, 130.

12. (9) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, 249, 84, 127.

13. (3) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 249, 83.7, 124.

14. (19) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 249, 75.8, 121.

15. (24) Peyton Sellers, Chevrolet, 249, 77.3, 118.

16. (16) Scott Lagasse Jr., Toyota, 249, 76.9, 115.

17. (21) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, 249, 78.2, 112.

18. (7) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 249, 99.2, 109.

19. (15) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Dodge, 249, 68.4, 106.

20. (27) Jason Keller, Ford, 248, 69.7, 103.

21. (42) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 248, 63.7, 100.

22. (26) Burney Lamar, Toyota, 248, 61, 97.

23. (17) Shelby Howard, Chevrolet, 248, 65.2, 94.

24. (2) Brad Coleman, Toyota, 247, 96.5, 96.

25. (22) Casey Atwood, Chevrolet, 247, 56.6, 88.

26. (37) Ken Butler, Chevrolet, 247, 52.5, 85.

27. (30) Danny O’Quinn Jr., Chevrolet, 247, 50.1, 82.

28. (33) Michael Annett, Toyota, 246, 59.2, 79.

29. (31) Travis Kittleson, Chevrolet, 245, 47.9, 76.

30. (36) Brandon Whitt, Ford, 245, 44.4, 73.

31. (43) Brian Keselowski, Dodge, 243, 39.2, 70.

32. (38) Eric McClure, Ford, 237, 41, 67.

33. (25) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 224, 71.9, 64.

34. (40) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, rear end, 213, 36.1, 61.

35. (14) Mark Green, Chevrolet, brakes, 30, 48.3, 58.

36. (39) Kelly Bires, Toyota, electrical, 16, 39.6, 55.

37. (32) J.C. Stout, Chevrolet, brakes, 10, 39.3, 52.

38. (41) Chad Blount, Chevrolet, brakes, 8, 34, 49.

39. (12) Terry Cook, Chevrolet, overheating, 5, 31.9, 46.

40. (29) Derrike Cope, Dodge, brakes, 4, 33.2, 43.

41. (34) Dennis Setzer, Dodge, vibration, 4, 30, 40.

42. (35) Kertus Davis, Chevrolet, brakes, 3, 28.9, 37.

43. (23) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, ignition, 2, 27.8, 34.

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 102.728 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 26 minutes, 1 second.

Margin of Victory: 5.340 seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 15 laps.

Lead Changes: 12 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: E.Darnell 1-14; B.Coleman 15; E.Darnell 16-20; B.Coleman 21-49; S.Leicht 50; B.Coleman 51-55; R.Stenhouse Jr. 56-79; Bra.Keselowski 80-81; C.Edwards 82; R.Stenhouse Jr. 83-104; Bra.Keselowski 105-125; K.Busch 126-205; C.Edwards 206-250.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Busch, 1 time for 80 laps; C.Edwards, 2 times for 46 laps; R.Stenhouse Jr., 2 times for 46 laps; B.Coleman, 3 times for 35 laps; Bra.Keselowski, 2 times for 23 laps; E.Darnell, 2 times for 19 laps; S.Leicht, 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 10 in Points

1. K.Busch, 2,391; 2. C.Edwards, 2,264; 3. Bra.Keselowski, 2,173; 4. J.Leffler, 2,127; 5. J.Logano, 1,860; 6. M.Bliss, 1,745; 7. B.Gaughan, 1,744; 8. J.Allgaier, 1,740; 9. J.Keller, 1,716; 10. S.Wallace, 1,693.

NASCAR Driver Rating Formula

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.