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closeIt's Edwards again, but all 5 Roush cars strong at 'home'
Points leader Kyle Busch is 2nd
JIM UTTER
The Charlotte Observer
Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008
Carl Edwards (99) on his way to victory in the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
BROOKLYN, Mich. - Jack Roush likes to call Michigan International Speedway his personal playground.
Sunday, his five-car Roush Fenway Racing team turned in an Olympic gold-medal performance capped by gymnast-turned-race car driver Carl Edwards' backflipping celebration after his win in the 3M Performance 400.
Edwards completed a weekend sweep in Victory Lane - he also won Saturday's Nationwide Series race at the track - by holding off Sprint Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch in a two-lap sprint to the finish.
It was an ending eerily similar to the battle that developed between Busch and Jimmie Johnson at Chicagoland last month, only this time the leader held on for the win.
"Kyle's good on restarts. That's just a fact," said Edwards, who claimed his fifth win of the season, 12th of his career and second at Michigan. He remains second in points, 222 behind Busch.
"Chicago, when it came down to Kyle and Jimmie and Jimmie lost it on the restart ... I didn't want to have to go through that pain so I just did everything I could to have the best restart I could, and it worked out great."
In addition to denying Busch his ninth win of the season, Edwards and Roush also relished being surrounded in the top-10 by all four of his teammates. David Ragan was third, tying his career-best finish, Greg Biffle fourth, Matt Kenseth fifth and Jamie McMurray made a late charge to claim 10th.
"I can't believe my good fortune. I've been in the presence of really fast company," said Roush, whose company is headquartered in nearby Livonia.
"Except for Kyle Busch finishing up there, we had a chance to have two or three winners - actually four winners - out of the top five."
Edwards' wins over the weekend thrust him back into series contention for a second consecutive Nationwide championship and left him lurking close behind Busch with three races to go before the field is set for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
"Kyle is just so strong - every time I win and he finishes second, that's really a 20-point spread for us (due to bonus points)," Edwards said. "So, that's what we just have to keep doing, is go out here and try to win the next three events and go into the Chase on even ground."
Busch said he expects Edwards to remain in the hunt.
"He is always strong. He's been the guy that we've got to race on these mile-and-a-half (and) two-mile race tracks," Busch said of Edwards. "He's been decent at other race tracks, too, but not as stout as he is at these, and there are a lot of these in the Chase.
"We've got some work cut out for us."
Adding to the Roush feel-good party Sunday was recognition of the anniversary of Edwards' first Cup race with Roush, which came in this event four years ago.
"He took a giant gamble on me, I felt at the time, to put me in that car," Edwards said of his team owner. "Jack won the race that day, I believe. Greg (Biffle) won it, and we finished 10th and all five cars were in the top-10.
"To be a part of that again today, for Ford Motor Co., for Roush and for all the guys, it's an honor."
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the June race at Michigan, appeared headed for a repeat, leading 43 of the first 73 laps, but hit the wall on Lap 187, doing serious damage to his car and finishing 23rd.
"It's been the same old story. We show up fast, but we can't put a whole race together. So we've got to do some homework," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We've got to science it out and figure out what the heck is going on."