Nascar: Carl Edwards Wins Dover Nationwide Race

Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Carl Edwards was sure he tapped Joey Logano.  Edwards missed him — and all the mayhem behind him.

Logano lost control on his own and tagged the wall, triggering a wreck-filled final lap that knocked out several contenders and let Edwards win the Nationwide Series race Saturday at Dover International Speedway.

“Man, that’s why they call it the Monster Mile,” Edwards said.

It was a monster of a wreck that ended a thrilling stretch run between Edwards and Logano.

Edwards battle with Logano off the final restart of the race turned dangerous in a hurry. Logano got loose and slid up as he tried to scoot around Edwards and hit the wall, sparking a pile up that eliminated Clint Bowyer from contention.

Bowyer’s car slid sideways down the concrete track. Debris hit one of Bowyer’s crew. Several other cars were collected.

Edwards instantly thought he hit Logano and caused the accident. But Edwards, who recently announced the birth of his son, never made serious contact and won on the second attempt of a green-white finish.

He refrained from performing his traditional winning backflip off his No. 60 Ford.

“I saw him wiggle and I wasn’t sure if I touched him or not,” Edwards said. “Not the way we wanted to finish the race.”

Maybe not. But he’ll take the result.

Bowyer, who led 37 laps, was lucky the accident wasn’t worse. His car could have sailed over the wall at the track appropriately dubbed the Monster Mile.

“It was certainly pretty wild,” he said. “It was just unfortunate.”

The accident shook up the final results. Kyle Busch was second and Reed Sorenson third. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and David Reutimann round out the top five.

Logano finished 13th and Bowyer 14th. Elliott Sadler took a 10-point lead over Sorenson in the standings.

Busch failed in his bid to tie Mark Martin for first place in career Nationwide victories. He stands on 48.

The front of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota was mashed in, but he ducked around the wreckage and finished the race.

“I didn’t want that kind of view,” he said.

The race was delayed and, later interrupted, by rain.

Josh Wise gambled and stayed out when the leaders pitted as rain started hitting the track past the halfway point. When the delay was called, Wise was in first place. He sat in his car on pit road and hoped the skies would open more.

“Hopefully we can keep this rain coming and get Josh a win,” crew chief Tony Eury Jr. said during the break.

With 56 laps left, the race restarted and Wise was quickly a non-factor. He finished 17th.

Edwards and Logano took over from there and battled for the lead. Edwards, who led a race-high 87 laps, nipped Logano for the lead with 13 laps left in the scheduled 200-lap race. It would go nine extra laps.

“I thought the rain was going to finish us,” Edwards said.

Before the final accident, Edwards was so concerned he was running out of fuel he drove on the apron under caution. He had enough to win his third Nationwide race of the season and move into fourth place on the Nationwide wins list with 32.

Logano, who flipped eight times in the Cup race two years ago at Dover, walked away from another scary accident. Edwards and Logano briefly chatted after the race. Logano refused to blame Edwards and chalked it up to hard racing.

“It’s just the way these cars are when you get someone underneath you like that, it pushes you around,” Logano said.

Edwards was surprised Logano got free because he had the outside spot on the final restart.

But when he did, look out, cars went crashing all over the concrete.

“It’s a product of what we do,” Edwards said. “This race track, we were driving so hard. Joey was racing as hard as he possibly could.”

-AP