Edwards dominates at Dover to win Busch race
Quote selected text Published June 2nd, 2007 in NASCAR News
Carl Edwards’ hard push to the finish line was slowed only by the caution flag. Edwards had the car to beat under green — even if it was only a few laps at a time — and that was enough to win the wreck-filled Busch Series race at Dover International Speedway on Saturday.
“You can’t lose a race with a car that good,” Edwards said. “It worked out. It was great.” Edwards, who passed Matt Kenseth with 13 laps left in the Dover 200, extended his overall points lead and won for the third time this season. He popped his head out of the window, pumped his fist to the crowd and nailed his trademark backflip, making a clean landing on the concrete.
If only the rest of the race was as smooth. Almost from the start, the race was a mess, with no more than a handful of laps ever being completed before the caution came out after another accident. The spinning, smoking and sliding kept happening until the very end, with the 10th caution flag waving with eight laps to go. The 11th and final caution came on the final lap. It seemed all the accidents would help Kenseth after he stayed on the track late and opted not to change his tires when all the front-runners pitted.
Even with all those flags slowing the action, Kenseth couldn’t keep up with Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Scott Wimmer, who all had fresh tires. Hamlin, the pole-sitter, finished second. Wimmer was third.
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RESULTS:
Pos St # Driver Sponsor Car Pts Status Laps
1 8 60 Carl Edwards Dish Network Ford 195 Running 200
2 1 20 Denny Hamlin Rockwell Automation Chevrolet 175 Running 200
3 2 21 Scott Wimmer AutoZone Chevrolet 165 Running 200
4 9 24 Casey Mears National Guard Chevrolet 160 Running 200
5 19 17 Matt Kenseth Arby’s Ford 160 Running 200
6 3 59 Marcos Ambrose Kingsford/Bush’s Baked Beans Ford 150 Running 200
7 29 77 Kevin Harvick Dollar General Chevrolet 146 Running 200
8 28 33 Tony Raines Camping World Chevrolet 142 Running 200
9 30 22 Mike Bliss Supercuts Dodge 138 Running 200
10 17 35 Bobby Hamilton Jr. McDonald’s Ford 134 Running 200
11 27 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota 130 Running 200
12 12 9 Kasey Kahne Wisk Dodge 127 Running 200
13 22 11 Jason Keller Dutch Quality Stone Chevrolet 124 Running 200
14 24 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge 121 Running 200
15 35 99 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 118 Running 200
16 4 10 Dave Blaney Fan1st.com Toyota 115 Running 199
17 13 27 Ward Burton Scott Shop Towels Ford 112 Accident 199
18 6 16 Greg Biffle 3M/Coast Guard Ford 114 Accident 199
19 15 29 Jeff Burton Holiday Inn Chevrolet 106 Running 198
20 10 37 Jamie McMurray Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Ford 103 Running 198
21 38 14 Kyle Krisiloff Clabber Girl Baking Powder Ford 100 Running 197
22 11 66 Steve Wallace Homelife Communities Dodge 97 Running 196
23 40 72 D.J. Kennington Vector Security Dodge 94 Running 195
24 33 23 Brad Keselowski MAC tac Chevrolet 91 Accident 189
25 25 1 J.J. Yeley Miccosukee Resort Chevrolet 88 Running 177
26 5 4 Regan Smith Ginn Clubs & Resorts Chevrolet 85 Accident 171
27 21 41 Reed Sorenson Wrigley Dodge 82 Accident 165
28 34 0 Eric McClure Hefty Chevrolet 79 Out 163
29 31 25 David Gilliland Freecreditreport.com Ford 76 Accident 162
30 23 18 Kevin Conway Z-Line Chevrolet 73 Accident 162
31 20 47 Travis Kvapil Clorox Ford 70 Accident 152
32 7 6 David Ragan Discount Tire Ford 70 Accident 125
33 18 7 Mike Wallace GEICO Chevrolet 69 Accident 124
34 16 90 Stephen Leicht citifinancial Ford 61 Accident 124
35 14 36 Brent Sherman Big Lots Chevrolet 58 Accident 103
36 36 28 Robert Richardson U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet 55 Accident 87
37 26 88 Shane Huffman Navy Chevrolet 52 Accident 36
38 32 89 Morgan Shepherd Victory in Jesus Dodge 49 Mechanical 20
39 39 52 Donnie Neuenburger Unsponsored Ford 46 Mechanical 20
40 37 01 Kevin Lepage Racegirl Chevrolet 43 Out 6
41 43 76 Jerick Johnson American Legion Chevrolet 40 Out 4
42 42 05 Brad Teague Racegirl Chevrolet 37 Out 3
43 41 71 Randy MacDonald Vector Security Chevrolet 34 Out 2
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I am getting really tired of this being the Cup guys practice session. 5/10 of the top 10 were cup racers, and i think that is wrong. Looking at the top 10 in points, 7 of them have a cup ride that is full time (or supposed to be if they qualify). Roush Racing absolutley dominates the busch series, since they have Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, and Greg BIffle running their cars regularly. NASCAR needs to do something, because the real purpose of the Busch Series ( grooming the next big star in the cup series) has just turned into CUp guys with superior equipment pushing out the little guys. See: Ashton Lewis Jr and Kurtus Davis who imediately come to mind.
You have to rememeber that if 80,000 fans show up at a Busch race to see Tony Stewart , Carl Edwatds and Kevin Harvick and you take all the Cup guys out and your crowd drops to 30,000 fans , then nascar would have solved one problem only to create another. Then only 1/3 of the Busch cars would be sponsered and the unsponsered ones wouldnt be able to race very long or wouldnt be competitive. Watch an ARCA race and you have maybe 10 good teams and everyone else is just driving in the way. I do think they should make a limit of maybe 12 or 15 Cup drivers per Busch race , but not a total ban.
They have to do something though. Its not fair to the future stars of NASCAR trying to make a busch race, and missing it because Jimmie Johnson or Carl Edwards wants to practice for the Cup race tomorrow.
I think that limiting the amount of Cup drivers for Busch races is a good idea. Put 10 regular Cup drivers in on speed/qualifying and send the rest packing. It’s like not being in the top 35 in the Cup series. Race your way in. This is called racing for a reason. I know that the Cup guys put fannies in the stands. Cup fans also support the ARCA / Cup companion races too. But they shouldn’t be given a license to kick the asses of minor leaguers at will either.
Nascar really should do something about Cup drivers racing in the Busch series. like everyone else said, it’s not fair to the rising stars. How many non cup drivers have won a busch race in the last few years? Not too many!!
I’ve always been kind of on the fence with this issue.
Yeah, it’s not fair to take guys with not so much experience and put
em up against guys with Cup experience. But I think it also steepens
the learning curve of the Busch drivers to have to race against guys
of that caliber.
So I agree, a partial ban. Leave some Cup regulars in it, because they
really can teach the up-and-comers things. But don’t let an unlimited
amount qualify cuz then the Busch guys can’t get a good finish. I mean
you used to be able to look at the Busch series record books and
actually find names filling the top of the leader board that weren’t
stars on Sunday as well.
I highly doubt Nascar will do anything, however. The Cup guys draw
way bigger crowds at the Busch races. It’s pretty much gotten so the
racing I look forward to most is in the Truck series. Younger series=
less rules to follow, and there’s not so many Cup guys all the time.