Carl Edwards seemed to have it in the bag. After starting second in Saturday night’s Capitol City 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Edwards quickly asserted himself and put his Ford in the lead. It was the first time Edwards had led more than one lap all season.
For most of the race, Edwards appeared to be the car to beat. All told Edwards led a race high 206 laps. When the checkered flag fell however, Edwards found himself in tenth and more frustrated than he has been in quite some time.
The problem began on lap 317 on a restart after the fourth yellow flag of the race. According to the scoring pylons at the track, those that drivers and their spotters see, Edwards was in first with Tony Stewart in second. As the field hit the area designated as the restart area on the track, Edwards took off as Stewart, restarting on the inside, seemed to spin his tires. Edwards shot to the lead while the rest of the field sorted out behind him. The restart however, was seen differently by NASCAR. According to NASCAR, Edwards was actually second prior to the restart at least on electronic scoring. Since he did restart second, and seemed to pass Stewart, who was the leader according to NASCAR, early, Edwards was black flagged. He was forced to serve a pass through penalty dropping him to fifteenth. 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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