As strong as his car was, Edwards’ closest call came during the tire
incident on pit road. During a pit stop on Lap 215 of the 267-lap race,
the crew of the No. 99 Ford failed to secure a tire removed from the
car. Though the tire bounced off the pit wall and across pit road, TV
coverage showed a non-network cameraman inadvertently interfering with
the crew’s attempts to secure the tire, and NASCAR did not assess a
penalty.
That enabled Edwards to restart third on Lap 220, instead of at the tail
end of the longest line. He eventually took the lead for good on Lap
238.
“That’s nice of them,” Edwards said on his radio after learning he had
escaped a penalty.
“We’ll get (Sprint Cup Series director John) Darby a nice Christmas
gift. He’s a reasonable man,” replied crew chief Bob Osborne.
The NASCAR rule book states: “During a pit stop, if a tire is not
controlled and/or travels more than halfway across the pit road, a lap
or time penalty may be assessed. If in the judgment of NASCAR officials,
a team made every effort to control a tire and circumstances beyond
their control cause the tire to travel across pit road, a lap or time
penalty may not be assessed.”
Edwards had rallied from a pit road speeding penalty early in the race,
but a penalty late in the race would have doomed his chances.
“At the end, I was very nervous that we were going to get a penalty
after the tire got away,” Edwards said later. “But NASCAR made a call in
our favor after reviewing the tape, and I’m grateful for that.”
So was Osborne. “It was stressful, but results are what we’re looking
for, and I’m glad to be here,” he said.
Three cautions after that nerve-wracking pit stop, on a restart with
five laps remaining, Earnhardt (second at the time) spun his tires,
Gordon dropped low and Kenseth went high to pass the No. 88 Chevrolet.
As the cars exited Turn 2, with Edwards in the lead and Kenseth and
Gordon in his wake, the No. 24 Chevrolet of Gordon washed up to the
outside, clipped Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford and started a wreck that crippled
both cars.
Gordon’s Chevy slid back across the track and ploughed into the inside
retaining wall at an entrance to the infield, ripping the radiator out
of the chassis. NASCAR stopped the race to clean the track for a restart
with two laps to go.
“That red flag just really killed us,” Earnhardt said. “We were terrible
on cold tires. I had a good car, and I’m really proud of my team, but I
would have liked to have had a shot at Carl on hot tires there.”
Notes: Jimmie Johnson, who was attempting to win the race for the fourth
year in a row, finished 29th, two laps back. ... Busch led 56 laps and
finished 11th. ... Edwards led a race-high 86 laps. ... Kenseth, who
dropped to 20th, led four times for 70 laps. ... Gordon finished 35th,
failing to finish his second race of the season. He had one DNF all last
season.
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