Edwards wins in overtime at TMS

Posted: Sun Apr 6 5:58 PM

Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Carl Edwards had to go a few extra laps, but Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Carl Edwards had to go a few extra laps, but the outcome was rarely in doubt over the last 100 laps as he won Sunday's Samsung 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway. The No.99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford crossed the finish line 0.399 seconds ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

The victory was Edwards' third of the season and 10th of his Sprint Cup career.

Edwards hung around the top-10 for the first half of the race, but when it was time to go, no one could handle the No.99 Ford. He took the lead from Johnson on lap 233 and led the final 106 laps to take the victory.

Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin completed the top-five. Other drivers of note and their unofficial finishing positions: points leader Jeff Burton (sixth), Tony Stewart (seventh), Matt Kenseth (ninth), Kevin Harvick (11th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (12th) and Jeff Gordon (43rd).

"I appreciate my fans sticking behind me," said Edwards, referring to the 100- point penalty he received after his win in Las Vegas. "This was fun.

"He was better than us there at the end," said Johnson.

Earnhardt Jr., the pole winner, quickly jumped out in front as Edwards fell into line between the No.88 and Busch. Busch, however, wasn't satisfied with just sitting in line and on lap 14 got past "Junior" for the lead. Busch quickly built the lead to more than two seconds.

Going in the opposite direction was Gordon. He was complaining of brake and handling problems and dropped from 18th on the starting grid to 34th after 25 laps.

A caution flag and the No.88 pit crew got Earnhardt Jr. back out front for the restart, just ahead of Johnson, Busch and Edwards. Johnson earned his five- point bonus when he got around Earnhardt Jr. on lap 47. He built a lead of around one second on Busch, Earnhardt Jr. and Edwards.

The top-three cars, sans Earnhardt Jr. began to pull away from the field. They were already lapping slower cars including: Michael Waltrip and Jeremy Mayfield. The next on the list was Gordon, who still had not improved after the first pit stop. On lap 69 Johnson put his teammate (and co-owner) down a lap. After 100 laps the leaders had lapped all except the first 21 cars.

Busch was having trouble keeping up with Johnson's pace and fell five seconds back, although still in third place. Only Edwards was within one second of the No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Then Gordon spun to bring out the caution flag on lap 109 and slow the race to 55 m.p.h. Gordon got out of the car and took interviews as it was a long repair process to get him back onto the track. he final returned some 100 laps later, but finished dead last.

After the pit stops, the No.17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Matt Kenseth took over. He led 22 laps until a debris caution on lap 131 again slowed the field. The pit crew again did their job getting Kenseth out first. At the mid-point, lap 167, it was Kenseth leading Johnson by half-a-second and Busch by 2.5 seconds.

Another caution flag and this time Kenseth's crew was a little slow letting Busch, Edwards and Denny Hamlin get past him. Kenseth was definitely slower after the restart and couldn't keep up with Busch, Edwards and Johnson as the field crossed the 200-lap mark.

Edwards and Johnson both passed Busch, but it was still looked like a three- man race with 100 laps to go. Then Edwards put it in another gear and even Johnson and Busch couldn't keep up.

The No.99 Roush Ford flew around the track and by lap 275 his lead was eight seconds on Johnson and 11 seconds on Busch. He had lapped all but 11 cars including Earnhardt Jr., the pole winner.

Edwards made a stop with 51 laps to go, making no changes. He returned to the track with almost all of his eight-second lead in tact. Barring a caution flag this was Edwards' race.

Then on lap 294, the one thing that Edwards didn't want to see - a caution flag. Out went his seven plus-second lead and we had a race again. All 10 of the remaining lead-lap drivers pitted for new tires.

They came off pit lane with Edwards on top, followed by Johnson, Busch and Martin Truex Jr. who took just two right-side tires to gain four spots.

Busch went between Johnson and a lapped car to grab second from Johnson, but Johnson came right back on the next lap to take second again. But while Busch and Johnson were fighting for second, Edwards was pulling away.

The No.99 had a one-second lead with 30 laps to go. It was close to two second with 20 laps to go and only a mistake or an engine failure could keep Edwards out of Victory Lane.

A caution flag (Truex Jr. engine failure) with five laps to go gave Johnson one last hope. There would be just two laps to go when they got the green flag.

But Edwards got off to a good jump and Johnson could never even get close enough to pressure Edwards much less make a passing attempt.

Burton's sixth-place finish gives him a 59-point lead over Harvick heading into next Saturday night's race in Phoenix. With the win Edwards moved up to 10th overall.