Edwards finally wins in Michigan

It was his first victory since 2005, a span of 52 races.

By MATT CROSSMAN

SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE

BROOKLYN, Mich. — In a season full of rainouts, a rain-shortened race and controversial finishes, Carl Edwards won an utterly normal Nextel Cup race Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

It was Edwards’ first victory since November 2005, a span of 52 races. So eager was Edwards for his fifth career victory, he said it was hard not to overdrive at the end of the 400-mile race.

“Finishing second,” he said, “would have been like chopping off my arm.”

Other top finishers

Edwards finished nearly four seconds ahead of Martin Truex Jr., who posted his third consecutive top three finish. Tony Stewart was third, Casey Mears fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fifth.

Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, points leader Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip rounded out the top 10. For Waltrip, it was by far the highlight of his first season as a Toyota owner and driver. Sunday’s Citizens Bank 400 was only his third Cup race of the season.

Michigan is a very wide and moderately banked 2-mile track. Whatever loop a driver wants to make around the track, he can make it. “It’s fun here because you can run top, bottom, middle, all over,” said David Stremme, who probably would have had more fun had he not finished 40th Sunday.

But that drivability helped Edwards overcome a penalty for speeding off of pit road that dropped him to 26th on Lap 70. By Lap 132 he had erased the penalty and was back in the lead. He took the lead for good with 35 laps to go.

“Our car was good enough that we made it back up to the front,” Edwards said. “I’d learned through trial and a lot of error that you can’t make things happen faster than they’re going to happen.”

Truex climbing point list

Truex’s third consecutive strong finish continued his climb up the points standing. He now sits 10th – two positions above his more famous DEI teammate, Earnhardt. Truex, who finished 19th in points lasts year, expects to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup. “The sky’s the limit for the way things are going,” he said. “Who knows? By the end of the year, we could be competing for the championship.”

Edwards wasn’t the only driver to work his way through the field. Stewart took the first turn of the race in last place — by design. After starting 41st in the field of 43, he intentionally stayed back so he could brag about going from last all the way up to wherever he would finish. By Lap 86, he had driven into the top five. He did that by passing high, low and in between on his way to his second consecutive third-place finish at Michigan.

Driver gets shave

Edwards wasn’t the only winner Sunday. Perhaps the only person happier to see him win than Edwards himself was his motorcoach driver, Tom Giacchi. After Edwards’ last win, Giacchi vowed not to shave until Edwards won again. Edwards pulled out scissors and went to work on Giacchi’s beard live on TV in victory lane.

“When they made that silly wager, I had no idea it would be this long,” car owner Jack Roush said. “Carl and Bob won four races the first year. I was even surprised it took this long to get it going this year.”

There were only four cautions for 19 laps, and the first caution didn’t come until Lap 51, and that wasn’t for a wreck but for debris on the track.

Edwards’ victory gave Ford its second win of the season. Edwards’ Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth won the second race of the season at California. The other 13 Nextel Cup races have been won by Chevrolets.