Edwards tops 'em in Texas

Carl Edwards continued his success on the intermediate tracks this season, picking up a win in the Samsung 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.
 
“Right now we are running very well. We work real hard,” Edwards said. “When we run like this it’s fun. The part that I do like, I feel like at a racetrack like this, I can make a difference lap to lap. That’s what it’s about. That’s what I grew up doing in Missouri on the local dirt tracks.”
 
Edwards previously visited Victory Lane in California and Las Vegas. His No. 99 team was penalized following Las Vegas and crew chief Bob Osborne was suspended for six weeks for failing to have the lid on the oil tank resevoir.
 
“It doesn’t change what I do,” Edwards joked. “I just do the best that I can. It does feel good to win, look in and see the oil cover.”
 
Edwards held off Jimmie Johnson and Saturday’s Nationwide Series winner Kyle Busch in the closing laps after the field was forced into overtime and a green-white-checkered flag finish after a caution flag dropped just five laps from the finish.
 
Edwards slipped into the top spot on lap 215, taking the position from then-leader Busch. He led through the extended finish on lap 339, surrendering the position to Johnson for only two laps.
 
A caution flag waved 39 laps from the end giving the teams the option to pit late in the running. Edwards and his Robbie Reiser-led No. 99 team opted to keep their Ford on track.
 
Johnson and Busch also stayed on track with Martin Truex Jr. lining up in fourth for the restart. Truex took on only two tires under the stop.
 
Truex then brought out the final yellow with just five to go after his machine blew an engine, prompting the two-lap dash to the checkers.
 
Entering the event, Edwards was weary of the strength of his engine and the team contemplated swapping it out before the event. Edwards dominated Atlanta, another 1.5-mile track, early last month before watching his car go up in smoke with an engine failure. Minus their doubts of the durability under the hood, the team knew Sunday could easily bring a solid run. Edwards started on the outside of the front row and paced both of the final practice sessions signaling his upcoming contention.
 
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Coors Pole Award and was a favorite entering the event for sentimental reasons. Earnhardt claimed his first career Sprint Cup Series win at Texas 10 years ago and remains in search of his first win under the Hendrick Motorsports banner in a points-awarded event. Earnhardt led early but struggled with the handling late in the running. He fell a lap down and finished 12th.
 
His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, would gladly have swapped positions with the 88, though. Gordon struggled throughout the weekend, unable to get a handle on his racecar.
 
Once the green flag fell Sunday, Gordon dropped like a rock through the field and fell a lap down. With just over 100 laps on the board he lost control of the No. 24 Chevrolet and hit the wall. Once in the garage the four-time champion said that the team would use the remainder of the race as a test session. After numerous attempts to get back on track, he dropped out of the event and finished 43rd. It was only the second time in Gordon’s career that he has finished last. Incidentally, the other time also fell at Texas, in 1999.
Hendrick's highest finisher of the day Jimmie Johnson, has also struggled early in the young season. With most of his troubles coming on intermediate tracks to date he was content with his runner-up effort.
 
"I’m just real proud of all the effort that’s gone into to picking up our intermediate track program,” the two-time defending Cup champion said. “It really showed today. In the last two intermediate tracks our stuff had bigger problems than worrying about how the car drove. I really think we need to look at some changes to help these cars not be so aero-dependent.”

"I knew the No. 99 (Edwards) was holding back and waiting, not showing everything that he had,” Busch said of his third place run in the No. 18 Toyota. “He probably could've lead however many laps there were today.

"If there's a shot to go for second, then we would've taken it. There at the end, it was just survival. It was about holding off those guys behind us. It wasn't going to be to move forward at all because we were so tight.  If we had a different race car, probably I would've tried a little bit harder, but it wasn't worth it today."
 
Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin closed out the top 5.
 
Newman’s Dodge failed post-race inspection for being an eighth of an inch too high in the rear end. Any penalties for the infraction will be announced early this week.
 
Jeff Burton finished sixth and continues to lead the way in the point standings.
 
Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer took spots seven through 10.
 
Bowyer was battling Hamlin for the fifth spot coming to the checkered flag but the two made contact sending Bowyer into the wall off of turn 4.

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