“It’s really cool to come off Turn 4 and see all those fans standing up and know you’ve got the best drivers in the world behind you,” said Edwards, who led a race-best 86 laps, including the last 30. “When it’s on the line with two laps to go, I like it.”
When Earnhardt lost traction, Gordon went to his left, and Matt Kenseth went to the right. They raced three abreast through the first and second turns before Earnhardt fell to fourth and moments before Gordon nipped the left-rear of Kenseth’s car.
Kenseth spun, and Gordon ran head-on into an abutment at an opening along the inside guardwall. The impact sent his radiator flying onto the track.
“It was a little bit my fault,” said Gordon, who was sore but uninjured. “I didn’t want to be on the inside there. My car was really too tight (hard to turn). I drifted up into Matt and hated that that happened.”
That brought out a red-flag stoppage for 17 minutes, 57 seconds.
“Yeah, I was real worried,” Edwards said of the restarts, especially the last on
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