Carl Edwards threw haymakers at Jimmie Johnson throughout most of Sunday’s Dickies 500, trying to pulverize Johnson’s lead in the Chase.
The combination of the win by Edwards and a 15th-place finish by Johnson at Texas Motor Speedway moved the race winner within 106 points of NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Johnson with just two races remaining.
Although Edwards dominated most of the race, leading 199 of the first 264 laps on the 1.5-mile oval, it was a daring call by crew chief Bob Osborne that got Edwards this win after several other drivers used two-tire strategies to get ahead of him near the finish.
“I didn’t expect to be able to close that many points on Jimmie without him having some sort of catastrophic problem,” Edwards said. “So I think that’s a good shot in the arm to all the guys who have been working so hard at the shop and here at the track ... that we can go out and perform well enough to win this thing.”
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE
1 16 99 Carl Edwards Ford
2 1 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet
3 4 26 Jamie McMurray Ford
4 3 7 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
5 19 16 Greg Biffle Ford
6 29 18 Kyle Busch Toyota
7 23 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
8 2 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet
9 6 17 Matt Kenseth Ford
10 12 44 David Reutimann Toyota
11 18 6 David Ragan Ford
12 20 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet
13 38 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet
14 14 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet
15 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet
16 8 20 Tony Stewart Toyota
17 17 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota
18 13 83 Brian Vickers Toyota
19 37 25 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet
20 5 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet
21 24 347 Marcos Ambrose Toyota
22 11 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet
23 21 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge
24 28 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge
25 10 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet
26 36 10 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge
27 15 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota
28 31 12 Ryan Newman Dodge
29 41 22 Dave Blaney Toyota
30 32 96 Ken Schrader Toyota
31 39 21 Bill Elliott Ford
32 42 28 Travis Kvapil Ford
33 33 84 Scott Speed Toyota
34 25 1 Regan Smith * Chevrolet
35 30 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge
36 22 7 Robby Gordon Dodge
37 9 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge
38 27 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet
39 35 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge
40 43 202 Joey Logano Toyota
41 40 2 Kurt Busch Dodge
42 34 38 David Gilliland Ford
43 26 42 Juan Montoya Dodge
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