Carl Edwards bumps Kyle Busch out of the way for Richmond win
RICHMOND, Virginia – Joe Gibbs Racing is proving that there are no team orders at the end of races as Carl Edwards bumped teammate Kyle Busch out of the way in turns 3 and 4 on the final lap of Sunday’s race at Richmond for his second consecutive win of 2016.
Edwards had the best car over a long run during Sunday’s race. Busch had one of the best cars over a short run, especially towards the end of the race. And the 37-lap run to the finish provided the perfect petri dish to see which car could take over.
With five laps to go, Busch looked like he was going to take the win. While Edwards could get close to him, he didn’t look capable of getting close enough to attempt or complete a pass. Heck, the same thing could be said with two laps to go.
But Edwards found some speed Busch didn’t have on the final lap. He closed the gap completely in turns 1 and 2 and was on Busch’s bumper down the backstretch. As the two entered the final corners, Edwards nudged him hard enough to move Busch out of the groove and soft enough to keep him from crashing his car. As Busch slid up the track, Edwards cruised to the win.
“So going into the white flag [crew chief Dave Rogers] said something on the radio basically like, ‘Get your butt in gear and go get him.’ So, I thought, ‘Heck, I’ll drive down there in turn one really far and it looked like Kyle, his car got real slow that last lap like his tires were just burnt up,” Edwards said. “He did a really good job keeping me held at bay until then but then we went down the back straightaway and I saw him spin the tires.
“So, going back down the back straightaway I thought, ‘I’m going for the bottom. That’s where I’m going.’ He went down there and just parked it and his car was sliding and I was just so much faster I had to give him a little tap and we got by him. I didn’t think I was going to get him hard enough. I thought it would just be a bump and go but we got the win.”
It was a textbook pass, one that Dale Earnhardt would have had no fear of making and would have subsequently been lauded for. And Edwards said he would have expected the same move from Busch had the roles been reversed.
Was it dirty? You can only come to that conclusion if you believe there are different rules when teammates are racing together; and there are many NASCAR fans who hate the concept of team orders. It was the perfect short track move. Especially in the final corners of the last lap.
Edwards led 151 of the race’s 400 laps. Busch led 78, meaning that JGR cars once again led the majority of laps. The last time the team’s cars were in a last-lap pass situation together was in the Daytona 500 when Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth were all at the front. Hamlin made a move (initially to block the advances of Kevin Harvick) on the final lap and ended up passing Kenseth for the lead and holding off Martin Truex Jr. for the win.
Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Harvick rounded out the top five while Tony Stewart finished 19th in his first race back from a
– – – – – – –
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!
