Carl Edwards wins rain-shortened Texas race, secures berth in Chase final

Ray Slover

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Carl Edwards wins rain-shortened Texas race, secures berth in Chase final image

Carl Edwards took the lead on Sunday with a strong pit stop. And on the night's final trip down pit road, Edwards came away the winner in the Chase for the Sprint Cup race at Texas.

With the win, Edwards leaps from last in the eight-driver field to secure his place in Nov. 20's Chase championship race at Texas.

MORE: Chase standings tighten | Texas images | Race results

"It doesn't get bigger than this," Edwards said. "My goal is to win the championship, and now we get to go to Homestead."

Rain caused a six-hour delay on Sunday, turning a day race into a night race. And with 45 laps remaining in the 334-lap race, rain forced NASCAR to put the race under caution. Four laps later, cars were called off the track. Under a red flag, NASCAR sent the pace car out to assess the track.

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The verdict: No way the race could restart without a two-hour delay. It was already 10:15 p.m. local time. NASCAR's hands were tied. It could do nothing but declare the race over.

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"We were in a bad spot if we went green again, but like I said the last run before it rained I think we could've held them off," Edwards said. Joey Logano "was really good on the bottom. My car was starting to go away. I ran pretty hard there at the start, but man, that's fun. And, Martin (Truex Jr.) did a great job. If we wouldn't have beat him off of pit road obviously we wouldn't have got this, but man it was really fun chasing him down and racing with him the run before that."

Edwards joins Jimmie Johnsonin the championship race. Johnson won last week at Martinsville. The two other drivers will be determine during next week's race at Phoenix.

Logano led 178 laps and dominated the first part of the race. But once he lost clean air and fell behind first Truex and then Edwards on a pit stop and restart, Logano couldn't regain the lead. He finished second. Truex, who led 66 laps, was third.

After Chase Elliott in fourth came Kyle Busch, who fought a wonky car all evening. The rest of the Chase finishers: Kevin Harvick, sixth; Matt Kenseth, seventh; Denny Hamlin, ninth; Jimmie Johnson, 11th; and Kurt Busch, 20th.

That poor finish likely puts Kurt out of the Chase championship race. He and Harvick must win next week at Phoenix to advance.

Harvick has won eight times at Phoenix and is the acknowledged master at the one-mile track.

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Edwards was one lucky dog. And he knew it.

"If it had restarted, it was over," Edwards said after the race. "Those guys had fresher tires. It was over for us."

It is Edwards' first time in the Chase's final four. He was runner-up in the 2011 Chase to Tony Stewart, who won a tiebreaker by having more victories under a different set of rules.

Logano was frustrated. Very frustrated.

"We had a good AAA Fusion that was capable of winning the race. We just lost our track position on a green-flag cycle and got our balance off a little bit," he said. "We got it fixed and got it going and had a good restart at the end to get back to second but it seemed like we needed maybe five or 10 more laps to try to catch the 19 there. We were making up about three-tenths a lap when the caution came out.

"It is what it is. We are disappointed with second, which is a good thing. I think we are in right now but it sure would have been nice to be locked in. It sure would make it easier next week."

Raindrops that spoiled the day turned into a sprinkle that stopped the race. And then, there was a champagne shower in victory lane.

Points update

Logano was right to lament one that got away, but he moved into great position to make the Chase final four. He is tied with Kyle Busch at 4,074 points. They would join Johnson and Edwards in the Homestead championship race.

The four on the outside entering Phoenix: Kenseth, 4,073; Hamlin, 4,072; Harvick, 4,056; and Kurt Busch, 4,040.

So it is a four-man race for the final two Homestead berths. Winning at Phoenix is the only way now to lock into the final four. And everyone will be out to beat Harvick.

For once, Edwards won't have to worry.

"This was a great test," Edwards said. "We came here and knew what we had to do, we performed the way we needed to and I really believe we can do that at Homestead."

Because of the red-flag finish, Edwards didn't get to do his victory backflip. He said he'd save it for Homestead.

Ray Slover