WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Carl Edwards is batting 1.000.
Grabbing the lead from Brad Keselowski after a restart with 10 laps left in Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International, Edwards held on to win his first NASCAR Nationwide Series start of the season.
Edwards took the top spot from Keselowski on lap 73 of 82, completing a pass to the outside as the cars approached the esses at the 2.45-mile road course. Keselowski regained the lead momentarily on Lap 76 but lost it again to Edwards’ crossover move as the cars approached Turn 1 to start Lap 77.
That’s when a caution for Austin Dillon’s blown tire slowed the field and set up a restart with two laps left. After a side-by-side battle in Turn 7 on Lap 81, Edwards held off Keselowski to win by 1.130 seconds.
“I hate to admit it, but I missed a downshift in Turn 6,” Edwards said of the sequence of events that allowed Keselowski to pull up beside him as the cars approached the white flag. “All day, that was where he was beating me, so I went in there extra hard, and I missed my downshift and he got next to me.”
Keselowski, however, ran out of room to the outside, and Edwards pulled away to his 38th Nationwide victory, breaking a tie for third with Kevin Harvick on the series’ all-time win list.
“Obviously, he missed that last left-hander (Turn 6),” Keselowski said. “I pulled up beside his left-side door and went into (Turn 7) on Carl’s outside, and he got loose and came up the track and hit me and put me in the wall there.
“That kind of took away all my momentum. I didn’t have a chance at it from there.”
Pole-sitter Sam Hornish Jr. ran third, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and road course ace Ron Fellows.
Entering the race with high expectations after her strong run at Road America in June, Danica Patrick suffered terminal damage to her No. 7 Chevrolet before the race was a lap old.
Ryan Truex’s No. 20 Toyota slid through the grass in the first corner and back onto the pavement right in front of Patrick’s car. The collision broke Patrick’s radiator and ultimately put her out of the race in 43rd place, the worst finish of her NASCAR career.
“One thing leads to the next in these situations, and the radiator was leaking,” Patrick said. “I noticed on my lap (after attempted repairs on pit road) that it took a long, long time to get to fourth gear on the backstraight. It might have been losing power at that point in time. When they got the radiator changed — and they did it really quickly — I went to fire it, and there was water coming out of the tail pipe. It wouldn’t turn over.
“I feel so bad. I wish it would have gone differently but that’s the sport. There’s a lot of stuff that is out of your control and there’s a lot of stuff you look back at that you would’ve, could’ve, should’ve done differently — but that’s just racing.”
Scott Graves, Edwards’ crew chief, is batting 1.000, too, with a win in his first Nationwide Series race. . . . Elliott Sadler finished 12th and saw his lead in the series standings shrink to 13 points over Stenhouse, 24 over Hornish and 29 over Dillon, who finished 23rd and lost two positions in the points.
RACE RESULTS
1. (2) Carl Edwards, Ford, 82, $52,050.
2. (4) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 82, $26,925.
3. (1) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 82, $29,093.
4. (10) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 82, $27,143.
5. (15) Ron Fellows, Chevrolet, 82, $16,925.
6. (5) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 82, $13,475.
7. (11) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 82, $12,725.
8. (3) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 82, $12,350.
9. (8) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 82, $20,618.
10. (9) Brian Scott, Toyota, 82, $19,418.
11. (19) Michael Annett, Ford, 82, $18,468.
12. (7) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 82, $17,993.
13. (14) Miguel Paludo, Chevrolet, 82, $17,893.
14. (20) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 82, $17,768.
15. (13) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 82, $18,168.
16. (16) Victor Gonzalez Jr., Toyota, 82, $18,343.
17. (27) Jason Bowles, Toyota, 82, $21,193.
18. (28) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 82, $17,518.
19. (21) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 82, $17,443.
20. (34) Kenny Habul, Toyota, 82, $11,125.
21. (24) Kyle Kelley, Chevrolet, 82, $11,350.
22. (6) Joey Logano, Toyota, 82, $10,825.
23. (30) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 82, $17,218.
24. (12) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 81, $17,118.
25. (39) Tim Connolly, Chevrolet, 81, $17,518.
26. (40) Eric McClure, Toyota, 77, $16,998.
27. (26) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, Engine, 55, $10,475.
28. (41) Tony Raines, Dodge, Vibration, 45, $16,873.
29. (25) Alex Kennedy, Toyota, Accident, 37, $16,838.
30. (38) Daryl Harr, Chevrolet, 33, $17,103.
31. (31) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, Electrical, 27, $16,743.
32. (42) Dexter Stacey, Chevrolet, Handling, 25, $16,683.
33. (43) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Brakes, 23, $10,185.
34. (35) Eric Curran, Dodge, Electrical, 18, $10,125.
35. (29) Timmy Hill, Ford, Alternator, 14, $10,085.
36. (37) Matthew Bell, Ford, Accident, 11, $16,518.
37. (32) Chris Cook, Chevrolet, Overheating, 8, $10,000.
38. (17) Alex Popow, Toyota, Accident, 5, $16,424.
39. (18) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Vibration, 3, $9,820.
40. (33) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 3, $9,695.
41. (36) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, Brakes, 2, $9,655.
42. (22) Stephen Leicht, Chevrolet, Brakes, 2, $9,615.
43. (23) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, Accident, 2, $16,002.
RACE STATISTICS
Average Speed of Race Winner: 91.1 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 12 Mins, 19 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.130 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 15 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Hornish Jr. 1-11; B. Keselowski 12-19; S. Hornish Jr. 20-23; A. Kennedy 24-28; B. Keselowski 29-50; K. Busch 51; R. Truex 52-53; M. Paludo 54-57; J. Allgaier 58; J. Clements 59; B. Keselowski 60-72; C. Edwards 73-75; B. Keselowski 76; C. Edwards 77-82.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): B. Keselowski 4 times for 44 laps; S. Hornish Jr. 2 times for 15 laps; C. Edwards 2 times for 9 laps; A. Kennedy 1 time for 5 laps; M. Paludo 1 time for 4 laps; R. Truex 1 time for 2 laps; J. Allgaier 1 time for 1 lap; J. Clements 1 time for 1 lap; K. Busch 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: E. Sadler – 783; R. Stenhouse Jr. – 770; S. Hornish Jr. – 759; A. Dillon – 754; J. Allgaier – 709; M. Annett – 674; C. Whitt – 622; M. Bliss – 578; B. Scott – 520; J. Nemechek – 492.
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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