This is an update to:
Edwards Wins Ford 300 Nationwide Race, Bowyer Takes The Series Title
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
Carl Edwards did everything he could do Saturday night.
But Clint Bowyer did everything he needed to, finishing fifth in the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, good enough to thwart Edwards’ bid for a second consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series title.
Edwards wrested the lead from Kyle Busch late in the race and stayed out front to the end of the 200-lap event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He earned his seventh Nationwide victory and kept Busch from recording a record 11th series win.
Brad Keselowski ran third and claimed third in the final series standings. Jason Leffler finished fourth in Saturday’s race, followed by Bowyer, Scott Wimmer, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelly Bires and Joey Logano.
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 2 60 Carl Edwards Ford 2 11 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 3 6 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 4 15 38 Jason Leffler Toyota 5 13 2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 6 27 21 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 7 8 32 Denny Hamlin Toyota 8 7 5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 9 21 47 Kelly Bires Ford 10 1 20 Joey Logano Toyota 11 19 33 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 12 30 0 Josh Wise Toyota 13 33 99 David Reutimann Toyota 14 10 1 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 15 22 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet 16 28 64 David Stremme Chevrolet 17 12 42 Juan Montoya Dodge 18 34 7 Mike Wallace Toyota 19 5 17 Jamie McMurray Ford 20 31 9 Chase Miller * Dodge 21 35 25 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford 22 14 27 Jason Keller Ford 23 3 6 David Ragan Ford 24 38 4 Patrick Sheltra Dodge 25 41 1 Danny Efland Chevrolet 26 36 81 D.J. Kennington Dodge 27 37 22 Marc Davis Dodge 28 26 12 Justin Allgaier Dodge 29 43 0 David Green Chevrolet 30 18 150 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 31 25 59 Marcos Ambrose Ford 32 40 24 Eric McClure Chevrolet 33 24 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 34 9 40 Bryan Clauson * Dodge 35 4 29 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 36 29 103 Michael Annett Toyota 37 20 111 Scott Lagasse Jr. Chevrolet 38 39 161 Brandon Whitt Ford 39 16 331 Kenny Hendrick Chevrolet 40 42 52 Brad Teague Chevrolet 41 23 149 Kertus Davis Chevrolet 42 17 90 Terry Cook Chevrolet 43 32 91 Todd Bodine Chevrolet
UPDATE: November 15, 2008 11:21 pm
Carl Edwards won the season-ending Ford 300 on Saturday night, but came up 21 points short in his attempt to overtake Clint Bowyer for the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship.
All Bowyer had to do to keep Edwards from winning a second straight title in the second-tier series was finish in the top eight. He did that easily, taking fifth to stay on top of the standings, right where he has been most of the year despite winning only one of 35 races.
Both Edwards and Bowyer, another Cup star, had consistent seasons. The difference was Bowyer rolled up 29 top-10 finishes and finished every race, while Edwards had 22 top-10s and failed to finish two races.
“It’s not tonight that decided this championship,” Edwards said. “It’s an all-season thing. We’ve got a great team here and on the Cup side. There’s no shame in finishing second.”
The 29-year-old Bowyer, who started the night with a 56-point lead, fell out of the top 10 several times in the first half of the race. He actually trailed Edwards in points several times, but his team used a two-tire pit stop during a caution just past the halfway point to get its driver into the top five, and he managed to stay there the rest of the race.
RANK DRIVER POINTS BEHIND WINS TOP 10 1 Clint Bowyer 5132 Leader 1 29 2 Carl Edwards 5111 -21 7 22 3 Brad Keselowski 4794 -338 2 20 4 David Ragan 4525 -607 0 21 5 Mike Bliss 4518 -614 0 15 6 Kyle Busch 4461 -671 10 20 7 David Reutimann 4388 -744 0 15 8 Mike Wallace 4128 -1004 0 8 9 Jason Leffler 4086 -1046 0 13 10 Marcos Ambrose 3991 -1141 1 6 11 David Stremme 3887 -1245 0 16 12 Jason Keller 3873 -1259 0 4 13 Kelly Bires 3764 -1368 0 6 14 Steve Wallace 3615 -1517 0 7 15 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 3566 -1566 0 2 16 Kenny Wallace 3121 -2011 0 1 17 Scott Wimmer 3002 -2130 1 13 18 Kevin Harvick 2936 -2196 0 11 19 Denny Hamlin 2758 -2374 4 14 20 Joey Logano 2555 -2577 1 14 21 Eric McClure 2429 -2703 0 0 22 Stanton Barrett 2329 -2803 0 0 23 Brad Coleman 2271 -2861 0 2 24 Greg Biffle 2092 -3040 0 10 25 Landon Cassill* 2092 -3040 0 5 26 D J Kennington 2014 -3118 0 0 27 Bryan Clauson* 1915 -3217 0 2 28 Kevin Lepage 1895 -3237 0 0 29 Morgan Shepherd 1844 -3288 0 0 30 Mark Green 1835 -3297 0 1 31 Derrike Cope 1765 -3367 0 0 32 Jeff Burton 1712 -3420 0 7 33 Josh Wise 1700 -3432 0 1 34 Kertus Davis 1639 -3493 0 0 35 Dario Franchitti* 1571 -3561 0 2 36 Brian Vickers 1544 -3588 0 8 37 Cale Gale* 1464 -3668 0 3 38 Chase Miller* 1386 -3746 0 2 39 Tony Stewart 1354 -3778 5 8 40 Jamie McMurray 1331 -3801 0 6 41 Kasey Kahne 1277 -3855 0 5 42 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1235 -3897 0 7 43 Danny Efland 1152 -3980 0 0 44 Burney Lamar 1114 -4018 0 0 45 Robert Richardson Jr. 1105 -4027 0 0 46 Brandon Whitt 1087 -4045 0 0 47 Johnny Chapman 1073 -4059 0 0 48 Brad Teague 1020 -4112 0 0 49 Matt Kenseth 993 -4139 1 4 50 Patrick Carpentier* 987 -4145 0 4 51 Sam Hornish Jr. 799 -4333 0 0 52 Kenny Hendrick 788 -4344 0 0 53 Brian Keselowski* 776 -4356 0 0 54 Johnny Sauter 752 -4380 0 0 55 Larry Gunselman 737 -4395 0 0 56 James Buescher 692 -4440 0 1 57 Mark Martin 663 -4469 1 3 58 Brett Rowe 656 -4476 0 0 59 Scott Lagasse Jr. 631 -4501 0 0 60 Stephen Leicht 577 -4555 0 2 61 Bobby Labonte 575 -4557 0 2 62 Mike Harmon 542 -4590 0 0 63 Colin Braun 515 -4617 0 1 64 Brad Baker 508 -4624 0 0 65 Justin Hobgood 458 -4674 0 0 66 Andrew Ranger 427 -4705 0 0 67 Kyle Krisiloff 417 -4715 0 0 68 John Borneman III 398 -4734 0 0 69 Jimmie Johnson 396 -4736 0 1 70 Donnie Neuenberger 396 -4736 0 0 71 Elliott Sadler 388 -4744 0 0 72 Justin Allgaier 370 -4762 0 0 73 Robby Gordon 367 -4765 0 0 74 Max Papis 351 -4781 0 0 75 Andy Ponstein 343 -4789 0 0 76 Marc Davis 331 -4801 0 0 77 Scott Gaylord 312 -4820 0 0 78 Boris Said 295 -4837 0 1 79 Scott Pruett 277 -4855 0 1 80 Terry Cook 271 -4861 0 0 81 Ryan Newman 262 -4870 0 0 82 Brian Simo 255 -4877 0 0 83 Kevin Hamlin 249 -4883 0 0 84 Todd Bodine 246 -4886 0 1 85 Austin Dillon 245 -4887 0 1 86 Juan Montoya 230 -4902 0 0 87 Ron Hornaday 227 -4905 0 1 88 Travis Kittleson 222 -4910 0 0 89 Mike Potter 217 -4915 0 0 90 Dwayne Leik 214 -4918 0 0 91 Danny O'Quinn Jr. 205 -4927 0 0 92 John Wes Townley 204 -4928 0 0 93 Casey Atwood 201 -4931 0 0 94 Shelby Howard 197 -4935 0 0 95 David Gilliland 191 -4941 0 0 96 Ron Fellows 190 -4942 1 1 97 Wheeler Boys 189 -4943 0 0 98 Ruben Pardo 186 -4946 0 0 99 Jeff Green 186 -4946 0 0 100 Martin Truex Jr. 175 -4957 0 0 101 Randy MacDonald 173 -4959 0 0 102 Jeremy Clements 170 -4962 0 0 103 Patrick Sheltra 167 -4965 0 0 104 Alex Garcia 167 -4965 0 0 105 Reed Sorenson 157 -4975 0 0 106 Shane Huffman 151 -4981 0 0 107 Willie Allen 140 -4992 0 0 108 J C Stout 138 -4994 0 0 109 A.J. Allmendinger 132 -5000 0 0 110 Adrian Fernandez 121 -5011 0 0 111 Jacques Villeneuve 120 -5012 0 0 112 Michael McDowell 119 -5013 0 0 113 Justin Ashburn 117 -5015 0 0 114 Antonio Perez 113 -5019 0 0 115 Dave Blaney 112 -5020 0 0 116 Stan Barrett 110 -5022 0 0 117 Rafael Martinez 103 -5029 0 0 118 Sterling Marlin 97 -5035 0 0 119 D.J. Kennington 85 -5047 0 0 120 Tony Raines 85 -5047 0 0 121 Erik Darnell 85 -5047 0 0 122 Carl Long 80 -5052 0 0 123 Kirk Shelmerdine 78 -5054 0 0 124 Chris Cook 77 -5055 0 0 125 Dale Quarterley 77 -5055 0 0 126 David Green 76 -5056 0 0 127 Ron Young 76 -5056 0 0 128 Jennifer Cobb 73 -5059 0 0 129 Jarit Johnson 67 -5065 0 0 130 Justin Marks 64 -5068 0 0 131 Brian Ickler 61 -5071 0 0 132 Trevor Boys 61 -5071 0 0 133 Jerick Johnson 58 -5074 0 0 134 Ryan Hackett 58 -5074 0 0 135 Bobby Hillin 55 -5077 0 0 136 Jeff Fuller 55 -5077 0 0 137 Michel Jourdain Jr. 55 -5077 0 0 138 James Hylton 55 -5077 0 0 139 Michael Annett 55 -5077 0 0 140 John Young 52 -5080 0 0 141 Kevin O'Connell 52 -5080 0 0 142 P.J. Jones 49 -5083 0 0 143 Jose Luis Ramirez 46 -5086 0 0 144 Stan Silva Jr. 46 -5086 0 0 145 Don Thomson 43 -5089 0 0 146 Scott Steckly 40 -5092 0 0 147 Scott Lynch 40 -5092 0 0 148 Charles Lewandoski 40 -5092 0 0 149 Steve Grissom 34 -5098 0 0 150 Shane Hall 34 -5098 0 0 151 Kerry Earnhardt 0 -5132 0 0 152 Chad Beahr 0 -5132 0 0 153 Dominick Casola 0 -5132 0 0 154 Michael Guerity 0 -5132 0 0 155 Chad Chaffin 0 -5132 0 0 156 Joe Fox 0 -5132 0 0 157 Nick Tucker 0 -5132 0 0 158 Chad Blount 0 -5132 0 0 159 Joe Nemechek 0 -5132 0 0 160 Jason White 0 -5132 0 0 161 Tim Weaver 0 -5132 0 0
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