BROOKLYN, Mich. — Carl Edwards took the lead in the pits, then drove away Saturday for his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory at Michigan International Speedway and 16th overall series win.
The reigning series champion was trailing fellow Sprint Cup star Tony Stewart when the leaders drove onto pit road under a caution flag on lap 93. Edwards, driving a Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, came out in front and easily led to the end of the 125-lap race on the 2-mile oval.
“I’m just so happy that we won this thing,” Edwards said after doing his traditional victory backflip off his car. “We’ve been close before. I don’t know if we would have been able to get by Tony or not. He was pretty quick.
“The car was awesome all day. There were a couple of cars that were real fast — Tony and Brian Vickers. But my pit crew just did a great job there at the end. I don’t know what kind of problem Tony had on pit road, but it was sure a lot easier to pass him there than it would have been on the racetrack.”
It was the 19th victory for team co-owner Jack Roush at Michigan, but the first in the series previously sponsored by Busch since 1998.
“We’ve certainly had more than our share of good finishes here, and it seems like it’s a track where we always race well,” said Roush, whose headquarters are in nearby Livonia. “It’s a very good feeling.”
Edwards, who led a race-high 71 laps on the way to his third Nationwide victory of the season, was nearly 3.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Vickers before Danny Efland crash at the start of the last lap. The race finished under caution.
“You don’t want to come across greedy, but I’m getting sick and tired of not winning one of these races,” said Vickers, who will start from the pole in Sunday’s Cup race. “We feel like every race we’ve been in we’ve led, but we haven’t led the right lap.”
Asked what the difference was between Edwards’ Ford and his Toyota, Vickers said, “I really feel like it was the power difference between the Ford and the Toyotas with the new (restrictor) plate. Carl just got too far out ahead of us at the end and we didn’t have enough time.”
Stewart wound up third, followed by Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Mike Bliss and 18-year-old rookie Joey Logano.
Series leader Clint Bowyer, who collided with David Reutimann as they battled for fourth place late in the race, wound up 10th and saw both Edwards and Brad Keselowski chop into his margin. Edwards is 113 points behind Bowyer, while Keselowski, who finished 11th, is 132 behind heading into Bristol next week.
“It was a fun day,” said Stewart, making his last Nationwide start with Joe Gibbs Racing. “I never thought it would be such a big deal, but it has been. It’s not like I’ll never these guys again, but I know this is the last time I’m going to work with this particular group of guys.”
Stewart, who will leave the Gibbs team at the end of the season to become an owner-driver in Cup with Stewart-Haas Racing, finished his Nationwide season with five wins and eight top-10s in nine races.
Saturday at Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, Mich.
Lap length: 2 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Carl Edwards, Ford, 125 laps, 146.6 rating, 195 points, $55,895.
2. (3) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 125, 125.7, 175, $37,350.
3. (7) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 125, 128.7, 170, $25,900.
4. (10) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 125, 103.9, 160, $21,575.
5. (8) Greg Biffle, Ford, 125, 113.7, 155, $20,950.
6. (20) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 125, 90.7, 155, $31,418.
7. (6) Joey Logano, Toyota, 125, 94.9, 146, $25,453.
8. (17) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 125, 97.6, 142, $25,288.
9. (12) Kelly Bires, Ford, 125, 91.3, 138, $25,093.
10. (14) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 125, 102, 134, $19,850.
11. (22) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 125, 88, 130, $24,693.
12. (21) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 125, 82.5, 127, $24,893.
13. (19) Dario Franchitti, Dodge, 125, 81.7, 124, $25,693.
14. (16) Josh Wise, Dodge, 125, 76.3, 121, $24,168.
15. (23) Mike Wallace, Toyota, 125, 77.5, 118, $24,793.
16. (4) David Stremme, Chevrolet, 125, 87.4, 115, $24,268.
17. (26) Jason Keller, Chevrolet, 125, 70.6, 112, $26,168.
18. (24) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Ford, 125, 66.4, 109, $23,818.
19. (2) Cale Gale, Chevrolet, 124, 92.8, 106, $24,468.
20. (9) David Gilliland, Ford, 124, 63.1, 103, $18,250.
21. (25) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 124, 65.4, 100, $23,643.
22. (13) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 124, 80, 97, $23,593.
23. (18) Mark Green, Chevrolet, 124, 55, 94, $17,475.
24. (34) Brian Keselowski, Dodge, 124, 56, 91, $17,025.
25. (39) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 122, 44.1, 88, $23,618.
26. (43) Morgan Shepherd, Dodge, 122, 50.9, 85, $23,368.
27. (41) Eric McClure, Chevrolet, 122, 34.4, 82, $23,318.
28. (42) Danny Efland, Chevrolet, 121, 43.3, 79, $23,268.
29. (33) D.J. Kennington, Dodge, 121, 47.2, 76, $23,218.
30. (37) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 121, 37.6, 73, $23,418.
31. (40) Donnie Neuenberger, Chevrolet, 120, 35.2, 70, $23,113.
32. (36) Brandon Whitt, Ford, 117, 42.1, 67, $23,053.
33. (15) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, engine, 98, 62.6, 64, $23,018.
34. (5) David Reutimann, Toyota, 98, 91.7, 61, $16,780.
35. (38) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, accident, 57, 53.6, 58, $16,515.
36. (11) David Ragan, Ford, accident, 51, 66.9, 55, $16,495.
37. (32) Burney Lamar, Ford, electrical, 40, 45.7, 52, $16,475.
38. (27) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, 40, 29, 49, $22,903.
39. (29) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, transmission, 19, 37.5, 46, $16,380.
40. (31) Justin Hobgood, Chevrolet, electrical, 15, 31.4, 43, $16,355.
41. (28) Kevin Lepage, Dodge, brakes, 14, 41.9, 40, $16,335.
42. (35) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, ignition, 11, 33.8, 0, $16,290.
43. (30) Kenny Hendrick, Chevrolet, ignition, 1, 32.5, 34, $16,247.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 136.571 mph.
Time of Race: 1 hour, 49 minutes, 50 seconds.
Margin of Victory: Under Caution.
Caution Flags: 6 for 21 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C.Edwards 1-32; B.Vickers 33-41; C.Edwards 42; T.Stewart 43-44; M.Bliss 45; B.Vickers 46-53; C.Edwards 54-57; T.Stewart 58; C.Edwards 59; T.Stewart 60-92; C.Edwards 93-125.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): C.Edwards, 5 times for 71 laps; T.Stewart, 3 times for 36 laps; B.Vickers, 2 times for 17 laps; M.Bliss, 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points
1. C.Bowyer, 3,582; 2. C.Edwards, 3,469; 3. Bra.Keselowski, 3,450; 4. M.Bliss, 3,223; 5. D.Reutimann, 3,219; 6. D.Ragan, 3,202; 7. K.Busch, 3,003; 8. M.Wallace, 2,963; 9. J.Leffler, 2,926; 10. M.Ambrose, 2,903.
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