By: Jeff Wackerlin – MRN
Carl Edwards held off the field in an overtime finish to end a 70-race winless drought when he took the checkered flag in Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Edwards led 122 laps, including the final 78, on his way to winning for the first time since Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March of 2011.
“I’m telling you we are back,” said Edwards. “This is going to be good. Whatever it is you are doing out there, don’t lose hope. You just keep digging and things can work out. This is awesome – one of the coolest wins of my life.”
The Roush Fenway Racing driver looked like he would drive to a relatively easy win until Ken Schrader cut a tire with three laps to go and set up the green-white-checkered finish.
When the final green flag flew, Edwards got the jump on second place Jimmie Johnson while getting shoved from behind by Brad Keselowski and vaulted out ahead of the pack.
As the field raced through Turns 3 and 4 on the final circuit, Denny Hamlin dove down to the apron to get around Keselowski and challenge Johnson for second as Edwards sailed away.
Edwards took the checkered flag with Johnson edging Hamlin for second as the duo bounced off one another across the finish line.
“I thought for the last few laps it was gonna be easy and then they had that caution,” said Edwards. “It was an awesome restart. Brad Keselowski pushed me and that meant a lot. He stayed in line there and he pushed and we got a Ford to Victory Lane, so I’ve got to thank Brad.”
Edwards’ No. 99 team has stellar pit stops as they spent the least amount of time on pit road, averaging 37.191 seconds over nine stops.
“I’ve got to thank my crew,” Edwards said. “These guys were unreal and Subway, this is the Subway Fresh Fit 500. We just won the race in the Subway Ford Fusion. This is insane, very cool.”
Johnson was trying to become the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to open the season with back-to-back victories after his Daytona 500 win a week ago but was forced to settle for second.
However, the Hendrick Motorsports driver wasn’t pleased with how the final restart took place.
“I felt like Carl didn’t follow the restart protocol and was slower than the pace car on his last two restarts, and it gives the leader a huge advantage when that happens,” said Johnson. “You’re supposed to wait until you get between the two lines and take off and this was all going on before it.”
Hamlin, who was forced to start at the rear of the field after the team was forced to change an engine in Saturday’s practice, doesn’t think the heralded Gen-6 Sprint Cup Series car produces much in the way of competition just yet. Despite going from last to third, Hamlin said passing cars was a difficult proposition.
“Yeah, I mean, I hate to be Denny downer, but I just didn’t pass that many cars today,” said Hamlin. “That’s the realistic fact of it. You look and we started 40 something, we finished third and you think that we just motored our way through the pack, and that’s just not the case of what happened.
“I’m ecstatic about our finish, don’t get me wrong, because we did not have a third place car today. But my pit crew just kept putting me in a position to race those guys, and then I capitalized when one or two guys in front of me made some mistakes here and there, I’d get one more spot, two more spots, next thing you know I’ve got a shot to possibly get a win at the end. That’s what you’ve got to do when you don’t have the best car.”
Johnson said the true test for the new car will come next weekend at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“I don’t think the Gen-6 car has anything to do with it at this point,” Johnson said. “I think next week in Vegas we have a track that has multiple lanes and we’ll see some great side by side racing.”
Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five.
Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton completed the first ten finishers.
Several drivers suffered right-front tire failures during the day, which according to Goodyear was because of camber set-ups and brake heat.
Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Danica Patrick were among the unfortunate victims that experienced issues and crashed. Patrick’s accident included slamming the wall and then heavy impact from David Ragan on the frontstretch.
“Obviously I blew a right front,” said Patrick. “No real warning. I wasn’t that tight either; I was sliding a little bit. I felt like most of the day I was chasing the rear. It was a little unexpected. I took a hard hit to the right, and then on the left. I’m fine. The cars and the tracks are so safe. As a driver that’s a nice feeling.”
Kyle Busch also had a trying day after taking Saturday’s Nationwide Series race win. He started from the rear of the field after the team changed an engine prior to the race and was able to race up to 16th before he spun and made contact with the wall with the left-front. He fell a lap down and wasn’t able to make it up until lap 238 and in the end finished 23rd.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now heads to Las Vegas next Sunday afternoon.
