Carl Edwards stretches fuel for Coca-Cola 600 win
The best day in auto racing ended with a little fuel stretching.
Carl Edwards took the lead with 18 laps to go thanks to a late pit stop and made it over 60 laps on his last tank of gas to win Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Edwards was not a factor near the front of the field late in the race but he and crew chief Darian Grubb made the decision to pit for fuel on lap 338 during the race’s final caution flag for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s brush with the wall.
Most of the cars in the top 10 stayed out during the yellow flag, meaning they’d have to pit once more before the race was over. If there was another caution flag, the cars that didn’t pit would be in good shape. Likely everyone else would head to pit road for fresh tires too, meaning the entire field would be back on the same pit cycle.
But the race stayed green. As the laps wound down, the top cars that stayed out were forced to pit. Edwards was the first of the cars that tried to stretch their tanks of gas and he beat Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the finish line easily.
“Well I mean, that’s what made the race for us,” Edwards said of the decision to pit under yellow. “Darian does such a good job and ever since Tony [Stewart] and I battled for that championship, I’ve wanted to work with him. And now I can. That’s what he does on the box, he takes a mediocre day like that and he puts us in a good position.”
When Edwards lost the 2011 Sprint Cup Series title to Tony Stewart via a tiebreaker, Grubb was Stewart’s crew chief. He parted ways with Stewart at the end of that season and went to Joe Gibbs Racing, where he was paired with Denny Hamlin. When Edwards joined JGR before the 2015 season, a crew chief switch among three of JGR’s teams put Edwards and Grubb together.
Edwards’ former Roush teammate Matt Kenseth joined JGR in 2013 and won seven races in his first season with the team. Unlike what happened with Edwards’ gas supply, it’s not a stretch to say that Kenseth’s immediate success inflated expectations for Edwards in his first year with the team.
And until Sunday, Edwards hadn’t been exceptional. Through the first 11 races he was 18th in the points standings and had one top-10 finish. His 20.5 average finish entering the 600 was his worst career average finish.
Now, he’s all but guaranteed a berth in NASCAR’s Chase. A Chase berth doesn’t automatically make a season a success; especially for a driver with championship ambitions like Edwards. But with a goal likely achieved during what’s otherwise been a disappointing season, Edwards and the No. 19 team can now prep for the postseason rather than worry about simply qualifying for it.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
