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2008 NASCAR Tickets & NASCAR Schedule
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Flipping Out:Edwards Dominates at Texas Posted:0535hrs
By Greg Engle,Editor, Cup Scene Daily It was the kind of weekend that Carl Edwards wishes he could have all year long.
Edwards was able to hold off Jimmie Johnson on a green white checkered restart to become only the second driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup history to be a repeat winner at Texas. Edwards weekend began by grabbing the outside front row during qualifying then leading the practice sessions on Saturday. Sunday he ran a flawless race passing Kyle Busch on lap 215 and never looking back. At one point his lead was nearly 9 seconds over second place. At the end only 11 cars remained on the lead lap. His biggest threat came from Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps. Johnson tried everything he could to attempt and close the gap, at one point coming within 1.5 seconds. His best shot came though with four laps to go after Martin Truex Junior brought out the 6th and final caution of the day when the engine in his Chevy let go. The top five stayed out while those in sixth through 10th came in for tires in hopes of having one last stab at Edwards. On the restart no one, including Johnson ever really came close and Edwards pulled away to the victory. "At the end, that restart, might not look exciting to people watching," said Edwards, "but it was real exciting for me in the race car to try not to spin those tires and hold off Jimmie.” It was the 10th win of Edwards career and his third of the season. It was also the 6th win for Roush Racing at Texas out of the 15 total races run there. The win was vindication in a way for Edwards and his team. At Atlanta several weeks ago, Edwards Ford also looked like the car to beat. His engine let go with 50 laps to go however and he finished 42nd. Edwards said his biggest worry Sunday came from the engine in his Ford. Especially after his crew told him that there might have been an issue with the power plant. “The last three engines we've had, failed, and I felt like cost us three wins,” Edwards said. “So I'm hypersensitive to anything with the engine, and they were in nice enough to tell me when anything is going on because I've freaked out so much on them. “So this morning Chris (engineer Chris Andrews) wanted to break the news to me that there's a little bit of possibly an issue yesterday, and so kind of had to talk me off of the emotional ledge; that's how one of the guys put it. It's the truth. We had a meeting and they told me, hey, you have to trust me and trust us and that's what we did and it worked out.” The team was also penalized for an infraction at Las Vegas the week before Atlanta. In post race inspection there, Edwards winning car was found to be missing an oil cap. While the team kept the win, Edwards was stripped of the 10 bonus points awarded during the Chase for the Cup later this season. His crew chief Bob Osborne is currently serving a suspension for that infraction. Edwards pointed out in victory lane Sunday that his oil cap was firmly in place. As memorable a weekend as Edwards had, Sunday was a day Jeff Gordon would rather forget. The handling on Gordon’s Chevy was terrible from the beginning and he fell a lap down early. His day ended when he spun and hit the wall on lap 109. Although the team repaired the car, he finished the day in 43 place, only the second time in his career that has happened. The last time he finished 43rd was at Texas in 1999. Behind Johnson in second, Kyle Busch was third with Ryan Newman fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth. Jeff Burton was sixth, Tony Stewart seventh, Mark Martin eighth Matt Kenseth ninth and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top ten. Polesitter Dale Earnhardt Junior struggled with the handling on his Chevy the entire day and finished 12th.
NOTE: I'm a one man show, not supported by anyone. If you wish to donate to help offset expense, it would be appreciated:
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