Carl Edwards didn’t nail the backflip. But he was near perfect on the race track and won the NASCAR OneMain Financial 200 Nationwide Series race on Saturday at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.
Edwards, from Columbia, led a staggering 179 of 200 laps in his Ford Mustang and won his seventh Nationwide Series of the season, 35th of his career and third at Dover, including both races this season,
Edwards, who has earned the nickname “Concrete Carl” for his success at Dover, easily outdistanced second-place Brad Keselowski and third-place Clint Bowyer of Emporia, Kan. Kansas City Star
“This track is so much fun, and everything went great other than my backflip, which was terrible,” Edwards said. “I was nervous about doing it on the [frontstretch] banking. It was just an awesome day.”
Edwards made his last pit stop just before the fourth and final caution flag waved on lap 159 for an incident involving Brian Scott. He reclaimed the lead during the caution, and then held off Keselowski and Clint Bowyer on the last restart.
“I almost felt like we were first in class, but the Roush cars are so much faster than everybody right now,” Keselowski said. “I thought it was all handling until the restarts. Carl just motored it.”
Bowyer ran less than one second behind Edwards for a majority of the race, but Bowyer ended up finishing third.
“We just got beat up all day by Carl,” Bowyer said.
Kasey Kahne finished fourth, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the current points leader, completed the top-five. MiamiHerald.com
Stenhouse, who drives for Roush, is anxious for that championship.
“We’ve got a race team that is pretty determined to win this thing,” he said.
Roush said “it’s not much fun” for Stenhouse down the stretch because of the conservative style he needs over the final races to maintain his lead. Roush said sponsorship money remains tight, but there was a chance Stenhouse could get some Cup time next season.
Stenhouse has a 22-point lead over Elliot Sadler with five races left. Sadler won his fourth pole of the season but finished 14th. ESPN
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