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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Edwards minds the gap in Motor City

Carl Edwards earned his second victory in three races Sunday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
By MIKE HARRIS Associated Press

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Carl Edwards sent a not-so-subtle message to Kyle Busch Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

“We’re winning races,” Edwards said after pulling away from runner-up Busch for his fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the season. “We’re gearing up for the Chase. I’m feeling stronger than ever. We’re here to win championships. That’s what we’re shooting for.”

With just three races remaining until the start of the 10-race Chase for the Championship, Edwards closed the gap on series leader Busch with his second victory in the last three races. Edwards also completed a rare weekend sweep on the 2-mile Michigan oval, adding the win in the 3M Performance 400 to a victory Saturday in the Nationwide Series event.

While the 23-year-old Busch has had a great season, winning eight times and building a big lead in the regular-season points, Edwards, who turned 29 on Friday, has kept the youngster in sight.

When the 12-man Chase begins next month at New Hampshire, all of the eligible drivers will be seeded, with 10 bonus points added to their base total of 5,000 for each victory. Edwards lost one 10-point bonus because of a penalty early in the season, but would still be just 40 points behind Busch if the Chase began next week.

“The greatest part is we didn’t give up more bonus points to Kyle,” Edwards said. “He’s just so strong. Every time I win and he finishes second that’s really a 20-point spread for us. That’s what we have to keep doing, is to try and win the next three events and go into this Chase on even ground.”

Busch knows he has a battle on his hands.

“Carl’s right there,” the youngster said. “He has been all year. Yeah, it’s a 20-point swing. We’ve got to live with it. Hopefully, we can make it up someplace else.”

Busch was just ahead of Edwards when they pitted under caution on lap 180 of the 200-lap event, but Edwards won the race out of the pits.

David Ragan and June Michigan winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had stayed on track and were running 1-2, but Edwards easily passed them on the restart on lap 183 to retake the lead, then held off Busch on two more restarts, including the final one with two laps to go.

The victory gave Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush his 20th overall victory and 11th Cup win – tying the Wood Brothers for the record – at the Michigan track, just down the road from his headquarters in Livonia, Mich.

Edwards became only the second driver to win both races on the same weekend at Michigan. Former Roush driver Mark Martin did it in 1993.

“The key was my crew today,” Edwards said. “My guys did an unbelievable job getting me off pit road.”

Edwards was pulling away at the end, building a lead of nearly 1.5 seconds before Denny Hamlin’s blown engine brought out the seventh and final caution flag of the day on lap 195. That moved Busch right up to the rear bumper of Edwards’ Ford as the green flag waved for the final time for the start of lap 199, but it wasn’t close as Edwards pulled out to a 15 car-length victory.

“(This was) very important,” said Bob Osborne, Edwards’ crew chief. “What we’re doing here is a little bit of practicing for the Chase and trying to get those 10 points to catch that 18 car. … Carl Edwards did a great job. The pit crew did a great job.”

“It just came down to when he beat us off of pit road,” Busch said. “That was it for us. We just didn’t quite have the car capable enough of being able to beat those guys. We were good on that one run, that one set of tires. But that was pretty much what we had.

“We just didn’t have enough for the (No.) 99 there at the end. We weren’t able to get through the corners as fast as Carl was.”

Roush Fenway took four of the top five spots with Ragan holding on to finish third, followed by teammates Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth, who bounced off the wall passing Martin, now driving a Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc., on the last lap.

“We were a nine out of a 10 it seems like and those other guys were a 10 out of a 10,” Ragan said. “Just to gamble a little bit (on staying on track) we knew at worst that we would still finish in the top five. It was something to take a shot. We certainly learned from it. If we had to do it all over again, we’d probably still do it again.”

Earnhardt Jr., who appeared to have one of the strongest cars in the early going, bounced off the wall in heavy traffic moments after being passed by Edwards on the late restart. He pitted and wound up finishing 23rd.

Gibbs team faces sanctions

The No. 18 and No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing teams in the Nationwide Series will likely face big penalties after efforts to alter the results of a chassis dyno test.

NASCAR inspectors, preparing to do tests on horsepower numbers following Saturday’s Nationwide race at Michigan International Speedway, found magnets under the gas pedals on the two Gibbs Toyotas.

Tony Stewart, making his last Nationwide start for the Gibbs team, finished third in the No. 20, and 18-year-old rookie Joey Logano was seventh in the No. 18. Those cars have been dominant this year and NASCAR, after earlier dyno tests, took steps to cut the horsepower in the Toyota engines in Nationwide.

This was apparently an effort to keep the current numbers from looking too strong in the test, the Associated Press reported.

Pemberton said NASCAR officials will meet today and Tuesday to determine what penalties will be handed out.

J.D. Gibbs, son of owner Joe Gibbs and president of the team, said JGR takes full responsibility for the actions of its employees. He said no matter what action NASCAR takes, the team will address the situation in-house.

NHRA

Tony Schumacher raced to his fifth straight Top Fuel victory and 10th of the season, beating Larry Dixon with a 3.845-second run at 313.88 mph in the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Mohnton, Pa.

The victory at Maple Grove Raceway also moved Schumacher within one of Top Fuel great Joe Amato’s record of 52 wins.

Also, Jack Beckman raced to his second Funny Car victory of the season, beating mentor Frank Hawley with a 4.183-second run at 291.57 mph. Hawley owns a drag racing school and employs Beckman as an instructor.

Jeg Coughlin and Matt Smith also won their divisions in the 17th of 24 events on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. The weekend ended with all 10 spots in the Funny Car Countdown to the Championship playoffs claimed.