Entering into the weekend at Dover it seemed that the four cars belonging to Joe Gibbs Racing would be the ones to beat. As it turned out, Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks was utter disaster. It started out very well for the teams. Friday Denny Hamlin won the pole, his third at Dover, with a lap of 160.121 nearly one mile per hour faster than the second place starter.
The rest of the teams had good qualifying efforts as well. Matt Kenseth started fourth, Carl Edwards eighth and Kyle Busch tenth. Hamlin led the practice sessions on Saturday and many in the NASCAR garage tabbed Hamlin to score his first Dover victory.
Sunday that prediction seemed to be coming true. Hamlin took the lead from pole and went on to lead the second most laps of the race, 188 of the 400. While Hamlin was in charge however his teammates began to suffer issues. The trouble started for Edwards. On lap 164 during the races second caution Edwards who was leading under yellow at the time, pitted and left with a wrench in the back window. A crewmember made valiant effort to retrieve it taking a fall in the process, but the tube that guides the wrench was jutting out and he was forced back in for repairs. He was nailed for speeding on pit road by NASCAR, and restarted deep in the field. He was never able to rally back and finished 19th, three laps down.
“We had a couple problems on pit lane, but the biggest problem was my speeding,” Edwards said. MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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