Johnson Holds Off Late Charge From Edwards
Photo courtesy Hendrick Motorsports
Johnson Cruises To Victory and Points Lead
Jimmie Johnson seemed to have victory locked up in Camping World RV 400 at Kansas Sunday – until Carl Edwards rocketed past his No. 48 Chevrolet in turn 3 of the final lap.
“I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn’t plan on the wall slowing me down that much.” ~ Carl Edwards
Edwards had built up a head of steam coming down the backstretch and appeared to have never lifted his right foot off the accelerator.
Edwards’ pass was short-lived, however. He was carrying too much speed into the flat Kansas corner and drifted up to scrape the SAFER barrier with he right side of his No. 99 Ford – allowing Johnson to easily re-pass him on the way to the checkered flag.
I wondered out loud whether or not Johnson had seen the pass coming. “That car goes flying by,” Johnson said of Edwards’ pass. “I knew instantly, there was no damn way he’s making the turn. Just stayed on the brake, tried to get redirected and turned down. I was so in awe of how fast he drove it in, I watched him pound the wall and jump back on the gas. I thought, Man, he’s serious about this win, I better get back on the gas myself.”
The win puts Jimmie Johnson back on top of the Sprint Cup point standings. Johnson looks poised to win his third straight title – a feat not seen since Cale Yarborough first did it exactly 30 years ago in 1978.
Carl Edwards was unapologetic for hitting the wall, however. “My number one thing was make this slide job a real deep one so I don’t collect Jimmie and then hope for the best. You never know what’s going to happen. He can go in there and get surprised and it can all work out, you know.” You have to hand it to Carl for giving it everything he had in order to try to win on his home track – even though he could easily have paid a big price in points had the move gone wrong.
Carl Edwards Billboard
Carl Edwards Texas Billboard
Photo courtesy Kim Ramon
Here’s the latest Texas Motor Speedway billboard promoting the Dickies 500 in November.
Hanna Threatens Nascar
Filed under: NASCAR, NASCAR Charities, NASCAR Owners, Silly Season
Tropical Storm Hanna postpones Sprint Cup race until Sunday.
NASCAR has postponed all activities at Richmond until Sunday. The Cup race will run Sunday at 1 pm, followed by the Nationwide race.
Tropical Storm Hanna is drawing a bead on the Carolinas and Virginia, and threatening to throw gasoline on the smoldering rivalry between Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.
Sprint Cup qualifying — which was set to get underway Friday at 6:10 pm — was rained out.
The field will line up by owner’s points according to the NASCAR rulebook.
That will put Kyle Busch on the pole — and Carl Ewdwards on the outside of the front row. Oh, and by the way, that will also put Dale Earnhardt Jr starting on the outside of the 2nd row.
Let’s see, who did Kyle wreck the last time NASCAR raced at Richmond? Oh yeah, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Talk about a wreck waiting to happen when the green flag flies and the field storms into turn one.
I guess Kyke had better be fast since the rain didn’t hold off.
Hanna is currently dumping rain across the southeast,
Kyle and Carl Ready to Go 12 Rounds
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards Begin Rivalry
NASCAR couldn’t have done any better if they had hired Don King to promote the final 12 races of the year.
If NASCAR wanted a rivalry, they have one now after Saturday night’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol.
“I tried to get him back, but I thought better of it.” ~ Kyle Busch
It’s coming down to a shootout between Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards – with jabs and punches being thrown from both sides.
Kyle Busch felt that Edwards rubbed him and moved him out of the racing groove unfairly after Edwards applied his Ford’s chrome horn to Busch’s Toyota with 30 laps to go.
“The way this works is, you know, a real smart racer explained it to me this way after he wrecked me,” said Edwards, “and I was real mad. He said, “I just had to look at your rear bumper and decide if you would do to me before, and you had, and so it was a real simple decision.”
“Earlier in the year Kyle was a lot faster than me and got to my back bumper and just smoked the back bumper of my car and sent me up the racetrack, and after that said, ‘Sorry, man, my car was just faster.’ ”
“So in my mind, I had to ask myself when I went down there in the corner, should I lift and brake early and do the best I can, or should I just kind of give him a little tap and see what happens? So that’s the way it went, and that’s the decision I made, and you know, I’d do it again.”
Busch, who had dominated the race most of the evening, had to collect his car and move up the race track as Edwards swept by for the lead.
Kyle Busch would chase Carl Edwards to the checkered flag, never to regain the lead.
Then on the cool down lap Kyle pulled alongside Carl and bumped into the side of the No. 99 Ford.
It appeared to cause Carl Edwards to lose control of his Ford, and as he was trying to save the car he hit Busch’s No. 18 Toyota in the left rear sending Busch into a 360 degree spin.
Busch seemed to be looking for some payback following the spin, but cooler heads prevailed. Kyle accelerated quickly for a moment then dove into the pits and parked his car.
Kyle Busch was angry with Edwards when he climbed from his car after the race. “If that’s the way he wants to race, we’ll race him in the Chase that way,” said Busch.
Busch was highly critical of Edwards driving style. “You know, to pass a guy, to hit him getting into the corners and chatter the tires is what he did,” said Busch. “I tried to get him back, but I thought better of it and tried to pull down and pass him back. But I didn’t have a good enough car to stick. ”
Even the normally cool headed J. D. Gibbs had a warning for Edwards after the race. “You reap what you sow,” said Gibbs to Edwards.
Busch was immediately summoned to the NASCAR trailer for a conference with Mike Helton and John Darby of NASCAR.
Busch was highly critical of Edwards driving style. “You know, to pass a guy, to hit him getting into the corners and chatter the tires is what he did,” said Busch. “I tried to get him back, but I thought better of it and tried to pull down and pass him back. But I didn’t have a good enough car to stick. “