For a few moments, no one at Daytona International Speedway—not eventual winner Kyle Busch, runner-up Carl Edwards or any of the fans in attendance—could say with certainty who was ahead when the final caution came out for a multi-car accident behind the leaders.
While NASCAR officials checked the electronic scoring loops and video monitors, Busch and Edwards stayed side-by-side as the field slowed on the backstretch. Edwards took the checkered flag first, but it was Busch who was eventually summoned to Victory Lane, after bowing to the crowd, then running up the banking of the tri-oval to grab the checkered flag to wave it in triumph
“Well, it was close, I knew that,” Busch said. “When I did see the yellow light come on, I could barely see the nose of the 99 car at my right-front fender. I was hoping that we were the winners and it ended up that way.”
“We didn’t have the best car. I was glad to have this Toyota up front. I really have to thank the 17 (Kenseth). Kenseth gave me a great push. I’ve got to thank Denny (Hamlin). He was trying to help me when we got squirrely there,” earlier in the race when he lost control and fell back to 37th.
“It was a great night for us. You just have to keep a cool head. Having a great car helps.”
Edwards, who finished second, accepted the decision.
“I was driving as hard as I could I hate to lose that thing like that,” Edwards said. “Congrats to Kyle and those guys. Jeff (Gordon) moved down on me, I just couldn’t lift. I wished we could have raced a little longer.
“I would have given anything to run all the way down the backstretch. Second place is second place. I really wanted to win.”
Matt Kenseth, Edwards’ teammate at Roush Fenway Racing, was third. He was followed by Kurt Busch, Roush driver David Ragan and Robby Gordon. Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin rounded out the top 10.
It seemed for a bit that Jeff Gordon was headed to his first victory of the season as he led 46 laps late and was handily holding off Busch as the race wound down. But with four laps to go, Busch pulled inside of Gordon and claimed the lead mere seconds before a multicar accident brought out a caution.
It set up an overtime sprint to the finish, and Busch was slow on the restart. It stacked the traffic up behind him and Edwards ran into the back of Gordon, sending him spinning through the grass.
Edwards darted to the outside to move around the action and, with a push from Kenseth, pulled alongside Busch to set up a thrilling drag race. But they didn’t get a chance to race to the checkered flag because of contact between Travis Kvapil and Sam Hornish Jr. that triggered a multicar accident that froze the field.
| 
|