WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Carl Edwards decided not to do his trademark backflip in victory lane Saturday night, choosing a more subdued celebration because of drag racer Scott Kalitta’s death earlier in the day.
Edwards also said the fact that he wasn’t proud of the way he shoved Clint Bowyer aside to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Milwaukee Mile contributed to his somber mood.
“Today, what happened to Mr. Kalitta, and the way I passed Clint, I just didn’t feel like doing a backflip,” Edwards said.
While the sentiment honoring Kalitta seemed sincere, Bowyer wasn’t exactly buying Edwards’ expression of remorse for the move that ended up winning the race.
Asked if it mattered that Edwards expressed remorse, Bowyer’s brooding, silent stare said it all: Yeah, right.
“We got up to where we needed to be, and unfortunately it got taken from us,” Bowyer said.
Bowyer made a vague promise of payback, and could get his chance almost immediately: The two drivers were scheduled to fly back to California immediately for Sunday’s Sprint Cup series race.
“As long as Clint’s not too mad and we don’t have to race around him, we’ll be all right,” Edwards said.
Edwards knocked Bowyer sideways with 25 laps to go, then held off young lion Joey Logano for his first Nationwide victory of the season after dominating the series last year. Edwards is having an outstanding season in the Sprint Cup series, but hadn’t won in Nationwide since a race at Nashville last June.
Edwards’ victory also was an immediate payoff for a crew chief swap the Roush Fenway team made this week, moving Drew Blickensderfer to Edwards’ team and Pierre Kuettel to its No. 17 car. Edwards won the series championship with Kuettel last year.
Blickensderfer said he and Edwards talked more on the radio during Saturday’s race than they ever had before the swap.
“I’ve been calling him ‘Drew’ all week because I didn’t want to mess up his name,” Edwards said.
Edwards wasn’t the only driver to draw scrutiny for less-than-tactful driving tactics Saturday, as Logano’s earlier run-in with Brad Keselowski might have been a sign of things to come from the 18-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing ace.
Logano, who became the youngest winner in series history at Kentucky Speedway last weekend, went fender-to-fender with Keselowski to take the lead with 79 laps to go. Logano ended up in the lead, and Keselowski ended up with a bent fender and an eighth-place finish.
“I’d say it was my fault, for sure,” Logano said. “Obviously.”
Logano appeared to be in position to score remarkable back-to-back wins after the aggressive move, but he was shuffled back to fourth on the final round of pit stops to set up a showdown between Bowyer and Edwards.
Bowyer slipped past Edwards to take the lead with 39 laps to go. But Edwards got Bowyer back after another restart, getting underneath him in Turn 2 and knocking him sideways to take the lead with 25 to go.
Bowyer recovered but slipped to third as Logano drove past him. Logano went on to finish second and seemed disappointed about it.
“I’d like to be in victory lane again, but I guess we’ll have to take it,” Logano said.
Keselowski dominated the first half of the race and appeared to be on his way to his second victory in the space of three weeks.
But after a restart with 82 laps to go, Logano went side-by-side with Keselowski for several laps before diving underneath him in Turns 3 and 4, wiggling slightly, then sliding up into Keselowski’s fender.
Logano went to the lead, and Keselowski went backward. He is second in the series points standings, trailing Bowyer by 188.
After winning the pole earlier Saturday, he hoped to continue a recent run of success for owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose JR Motorsports team has been thriving since partnering with team owner Rick Hendrick, Earnhardt’s boss in the Sprint Cup series.
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