It was another thrilling finish for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series Sunday. Carl Edwards scored back-to-back wins with a bump-and-run at Richmond International Raceway in the final corner of the last lap and raced to victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series Toyota Owners 400. The win and the bump came at the expense of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch.
Edwards had been the class of the field much of the day leading a race high 151 of the 400 laps. He found himself in fourth however on a restart after the races seventh caution. He fought his way to second and was catching leader Kyle Busch when the races final caution came out on lap 359. Busch was out first after the leaders pitted with Edwards in second. The green came out with 36 laps to go and Busch soon had a lead of 1.5 seconds. Edwards began chipping away at the lead with 20 laps to go however and with 10 laps to go, Busch and Edwards were dueling the for the lead. Busch held the lead until the final lap. Edwards first tried to pass him low entering turn 1 but dropped behind. As the two entered turn 3, Edwards was able to get to the back bumper of Busch and bump him sending the Busch Toyota up the track as Edwards charged underneath and on to victory.
“Kyle’s (Busch) an amazing teammate,” Edwards said. “It’s like he got really slow there at the end. Something happened that last lap. It was like his rear tires went off or something. He went down into (turn) one and I dove it in and I got to him and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got something.’ And he went to get down to the bottom and park it in three and four and I had already decided to go down there so I thought, ‘Man, I’m going to give him a little nudge,’ and we both have got wins and we’re racing for fun getting these trophies and just an awesome day.”
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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