Carl Edwards bounced back from an early-race encounter with the wall and then passed Kyle Busch for the lead after a restart with five laps remaining to win Friday night’s Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It was Edwards’ eighth win of the season, which placed him in a tie with Busch for most Nationwide wins this year. Edwards also claimed his 37th career victory, moving him into a tie with Kevin Harvick for third most wins all-time in the series.
Busch challenged Edwards for the lead during the last five laps but came up 0.2 seconds short at the end
“Just unbelievable,” Edwards said. “I thought Brad had it, and then I thought at the end that Kyle was going to get me. He has the ability to turn it on at the end. He raced me really clean, and I appreciated that.” MiamiHerald.com
“Trevor (Bayne) got behind me and pushed, that’s what got us the lead. He could have gone three-wide,” Edwards said of his Roush Fenway Racing teammate.
“This is just huge. I hit the wall really hard early in the race and messed the right side of the car up. Running into the wall generally doesn’t go very well for you.”
Busch was none too pleased with the outcome.
During a brief appearance in the media center, he said, “We got outmotored on the last restart and finished second.”
Asked a follow-up to clarify, Busch said, “Unfortunately, the Toyotas don’t have enough horsepower.” Charlotte Observer
Brian Scott ran fifth, followed by Brad Keselowski, whose dominating run was foiled by a cut tire late in the race. Justin Allgaier, pole-sitter Paul Menard, Stenhouse and Brian Vickers completed the top 10.
Kenny Wallace finished 16th in his 519th Nationwide start, tying the series record of Jason Keller.
There was another big win in the race besides Edwards.
Along with $100,000, Sadler also won $100,000 for race fan Joe Thornton of New Port Richey, Fla., as part of the Nationwide Dash4Cash program.
“It’s a thrill just to come to the races, but to win the $100,000 I’m speechless,” Thornton said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do with it—my wife wants to pay the house off, we’ll see. It’s just unbelievable, you know.” NASCAR.com
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