Carl Edwards shrugged off last week’s disappointing finish in Phoenix by hitting the jackpot in Las Vegas.
Edwards benefited from Tony Stewart’s pit-road mishap to win Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Stewart dominated most of the race, but the two-time Sprint Cup Series champion was hit with a penalty for a piece of equipment (air wrench) that escaped his pit stall area during his stop just past the half-way point. Stewart’s crew chief, Darian Grubb, gambled with a two-tire change only on the following round of stops, which put Stewart back in the lead. MiamiHerald.com
Edwards says his team is running as well as it ever has. “That’s three different types of race tracks with success on all three (to start the season),” he said. But his stroke of good fortune was not lost in the moment.
“That was really a gift for us for him to have that penalty,” he said. “In the end, it put him in position where he had to take two (tires) to get the lead, then had to take four when we took two. It may have been the difference in the race.”
Edwards was part of a Ford contingent that earned five of the top seven spots in qualifying but managed only two cars in the top 10. Petty Enterprise’s Marcos Ambrose finished fourth behind Juan Pablo Montoya as mistakes plagued more drivers than Stewart. USA Today
Ryan Newman came home fifth. Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers completed the top 10.
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 99 Carl Edwards Ford 2 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 3 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 4 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 5 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 6 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 8 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 9 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 10 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 11 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 12 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 13 0 David Reutimann Toyota 14 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 15 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 16 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 17 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 18 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 19 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 20 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 21 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 22 6 David Ragan Ford 23 20 Joey Logano Toyota 24 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 25 13 Casey Mears Toyota 26 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 27 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 28 16 Greg Biffle Ford 29 32 Mike Skinner Ford 30 9 Bill Elliott Chevrolet 31 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 32 71 Andy Lally * Chevrolet 33 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 34 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 35 37 Tony Raines Ford 36 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 37 34 David Gilliland Ford 38 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 39 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 40 46 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 41 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 42 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 43 60 Landon Cassill Toyota
| 
|