nascar notebook

April 6, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

nascar notebook

News & notes

Pit anger: Carl Edwards looked like he might deny Jeff Gordon his first Texas win while getting his third straight Sunday. The final pit stop with 30 laps to go changed everything. Edwards went to pit road with the lead just a few laps after he overtook the four-time Sprint Cup champion, who was struggling to keep his car under control. Moments later, Gordon’s crew was celebrating wildly, while a problem with a tire change left Edwards angry. The only three-time Sprint Cup winner at Texas Motor Speedway dropped an astonishing 10 spots because of the mistake and was relegated to spectator for Gordon’s historic win. As mad as he looked in the car after leaving the pits, Edwards chose the philosophical route after the race. “They don’t yell at me when I hit the wall, so it’s not my position to be mad at them,” said Edwards, who settled for 10th. “We just have to do whatever we can to fix it.”

Briefly up front: Dale Earnhardt Jr. was out front coming out of a caution about 75 laps from the end, but the lead disappeared in a hurry. Trying to keep from going two laps down, Kyle Busch tried to make a move and slid up the track. Earnhardt said he didn’t hit Busch, but he had to swing way wide, almost into the wall, to avoid contact. Earnhardt dropped to fifth quickly and later hit the wall. He finished 20th, same as his starting position. “He had gotten his car a little bit better and saw an opportunity to try to get his laps back,” Earnhardt said of Busch. “Tough deal. He races really aggressively.” Earnhardt said he spun his tires on the restart, giving Busch hope for a pass. Trailing closely, Gordon saw it differently. “I thought he had a good restart,” Gordon said of Earnhardt. “It’s just that [Busch] obviously came out of nowhere. He just shot up there. It was a big moment that I thought we were going to have a heck of a wreck.”

Associated Press