Backstretch Motorsports

FORT WORTH, TX. — Carl Edwards must know how the West was won… state by state.

He won in California. He won in Nevada. And, Sunday, he won in Texas.

The back-flipping Edwards is on a roll.

And he’s doing it without his regular crew chief, who is sitting out a suspension for rules violations earlier in the year.

Running either at the front, or just behind Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch most of the race, Edwards took the lead on lap 214 of the 339-lap Samsung 500 and practically held it the remaining distance.

Edwards held off Johnson and Busch in a two-lap shootout after the day’s sixth and final caution with four laps remaining set the stage for an exciting green, white, checkered flag finish.

Both runner-up Johnson and third-place Busch put up sterling efforts in trying to win the race at this 1 1/2-mile tri-oval Texas Motor Speedway.

Rounding out the top 10 were fourth-place finisher Ryan Newman, winner of the season-opening Daytona 500; Denny Hamlin, winner of last weekend’s race at Martinsville; veteran Jeff Burton; Tony Stewart; Mark Martin; Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer.

Kevin Harvick battled back to finish 11th after having a very bad-handling car in the early stages of the race. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., was 12th after running with the leaders at times in the first half of the race.

Rookie Michael McDowell, who walked away from an horrific qualifying crash Friday afternoon, finished 33rd.

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon had a terrible day, finishing 43rd (last place).

Burton stays in first in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, and Harvick is second. Edwards climbed four spots to 10th, and Busch jumped two spots to third.

The sport’s most popular driver — Earnhardt — led the beginning of the race from his pole position but his Chevy lost the handle quickly. Busch, Edwards and Johnson raced past him.

It was a perfect weather day at the Texas track when Michael Waltrip spun in Turn 2 to bring out the first caution flag. It was a timely caution for Harvick, who had just finished telling his crew his car was really “screwed up. I don’t know how in the world it could be this bad.”

Harvick’s team and others used the stop to make much-needed adjustments, including Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon.

On the restart, Junior’s team had their guy back out front with Johnson in close pursuit, just ahead of the younger of the Busch brothers. Johnson’s No. 48 Chevy took the lead on lap No. 48.

Gordon, a four-time champion, was thrashing back in 34th spot in the third of four Hendrick Chevrolets, almost a second and a half behind his teammates. Casey Mears, in the other, was 24th.

By lap 55, Earnhardt had dropped back to fifth spot, behind Johnson, Busch, Edwards and Greg Biffle.

Gordon spun on lap 109, the second caution of the sunny day. Gordon’s spin ended a frustrating day when he pulled into the garage and told crew chief Steve Letarte, “We need to change everything and turn this into a test session.”

Gordon has never had any luck at this track. It is is one of only two tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit where Gordon has not won. The other is Homestead- Miami Speedway.

The race started again on lap 113 with Kenseth out front, followed by Johnson, Edwards, Busch, Earnhardt, Denny Hamlin, Biffle, Martin Truex, Jr., Stewart and Kasey Kahne.

J.J. Yeley brought out the fourth caution flag when he bounced from the outside wall to the inside wall on lap 175.

All the lead cars pitted, and Matt Kenseth resumed his lead.

Race Results
Texas Motor Speedway
SAMSUNG 500
UNOFFICIAL
Fin Str Car Driver Team Lap Pts BPts Status TLd LLd
1 2 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 339 195 10 Running 3 123
2 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 339 175 5 Running 5 65
3 3 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 339 170 5 Running 2 50
4 4 12 Ryan Newman alltel/Samsung Dodge 339 160 Running
5 14 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 339 155 Running
6 35 31 Jeff Burton Prilosec OTC Chevrolet 339 150 Running
7 24 20 Tony Stewart Home Depot Toyota 339 146 Running
8 31 8 Mark Martin U.S. Army Chevrolet 339 142 Running
9 8 17 Matt Kenseth DeWalt Ford 339 143 5 Running 3 68
10 25 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet 339 134 Running
11 21 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet 338 130 Running
12 1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard/AMP Energy 338 132 5 Running 3 31
13 7 6 David Ragan AAA Insurance Ford 338 124 Running
14 32 26 Jamie McMurray Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Ford 338 121 Running
15 41 38 David Gilliland Yates Racing Ford 338 118 Running
16 36 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 338 115 Running
17 19 15 Paul Menard Menards/Quaker State Chevrolet 338 112 Running
18 38 28 Travis Kvapil Yates Racing Ford 338 109 Running
19 11 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge 337 106 Running
20 30 43 Bobby Labonte Cheerios Racing/Sam’s Club 337 103 Running
21 29 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Toyota 337 100 Running
22 22 5 Casey Mears Cheez-It/CARQUEST Chevrolet 337 97 Running
23 23 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 337 94 Running
24 42 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge 337 91 Running
25 10 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Dodge 336 88 Running
26 26 19 Elliott Sadler Best Buy Dodge 336 85 Running
27 13 66 Scott Riggs State Water Heaters Chevrolet 336 82 Running
28 27 10 Patrick Carpentier # Valvoline Dodge 335 79 Running
29 9 84 Mike Skinner Red Bull Toyota 334 76 Running
30 15 7 Robby Gordon Jim Beam Dodge 334 73 Running
31 20 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA Toyota 333 70 Running
32 17 77 Sam Hornish Jr. # Mobil 1 Dodge 333 67 Running
33 40 00 Michael McDowell # Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 332 64 Running
34 28 21 Bill Elliott Motorcraft Ford 332 61 Running
35 34 01 Regan Smith # Dale Earnhardt, Inc./Principal 331 58 Running
36 12 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats 330 60 5 Engine 1 2
37 43 78 Joe Nemechek Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 330 52 Running
38 39 70 Jeremy Mayfield Haas Automation Chevrolet 329 49 Running
39 16 16 Greg Biffle Dish Network Ford 312 46 Running
40 37 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 263 43 Suspension
41 6 44 David Reutimann UPS Toyota 253 40 Engine
42 33 96 JJ Yeley DLP HDTV Toyota 173 37 Accident
43 18 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 124 34 Accident

# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led
Average Speed: 144.814 MPH Time of Race: 03 Hrs, 30 Mins, 41 Secs. Margin of Victory: .399 Seconds
Lead Changes: 16 among 6 drivers Cautions: 6 for 27 laps Attendance: 190,000