5-Hour Energy 200 Recap: Edwards escapes the wrath of the Monster Mile
Edwards dominates at Dover for his third win in 2011
Carl Edwards started from the pole in the No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang due to weather causing the NASCAR officials to cancel qualifying and reverting back to the fastest times in practice. Edwards’ teammate Ricky Stenhouse shot by on the first lap of the race and quickly pulled away from Edwards and Clint Bowyer.
It wasn’t until lap 76, when the car of J.R. Fitzpatrick almost lost control right in front Clint Bowyer, that Edwards really showed how strong his No. 60 Fastenal Mustang was. Edwards quickly pulled out to over a second margin between himself and Bowyer. On lap 87, the next yellow flew for an accident involving the No. 23 of Alex Kennedy, who on the next lap tried coming up the track and ran into Edwards’ teammate Kevin Swindell who t-boned the 23. On lap 101, racing resumed and Edwards did quick work on Brad Keselowski for the race lead. By lap 125, Edwards was wrestling through lap traffic and Joey Logano was right on the No. 60′s back bumper.
On lap 140, Justin Allgaier made a hard crash into the wall and it appeared that rain was beginning to fall on the race track. NASCAR called all drivers to the pits and red flagged the event for the moisture on the track on lap 144 at 5:03 p.m. NASCAR dried the track, and at 5:25 the drivers were all called back to their cars, and the green flag was waved a few minutes later, on lap 149. Logano cleared Edwards on the restart and it appeared that he was maintaining the lead he had built up, until he got into heavy traffic.
With 14 laps remaining in the race, Edwards was able to clear Logano and get back in front and quickly pulled away. On lap 196, Michael Annet crashed on the back straightaway and brought out the seventh caution flag. Edwards came over the radio with a disappointing gesture. On lap 202, Edwards was able to get a great restart on Logano, however, another caution flag fell for Eric McClure’s car stalling on the track. Edwards was then riding around on the apron of the track, hoping to keep the fuel pressure up, and preparing himself for a restart against the 20 again.
When the race resumed, Edwards and Logano were battling side by side and when the two went to cross the start finish for the white, it had appeared the 60 had made contact with the 20, and it caused a huge reaction. However, after reviewing the replays, a different opinion came out that the 20 had gotten loose and there was no contact made between the two cars.
“Damn it — I didn’t mean to hit him,” Edwards radioed after the accident. “Is everybody all right?”
Since the two had crossed the line for the white, Edwards was declared the winner of the race.
It was the third win of the season for Carl Edwards and his second of the year on concrete, making it his seventh overall win on concrete, tying for the most between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.
“I’m just glad it worked out,” Edwards said after the race. “I’m glad that I didn’t hit him. I’m glad that everyone was OK. But that’s a product of what we do. When it comes down to it … this race track, we’re driving so hard here, and there’s so much grip, and you’re giving everything you can, and the cars are so close there at the end. …
“Obviously, Joey was racing as hard as he possibly could. I was racing as hard as I could. Man, that’s why they call it the Monster Mile.”
