Carl Edwards Cruises To Nationwide Win At Dover

Carl Edwards celebrates winning the 26th Annual OneMain Financial 200 on Saturday at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del. It was his seventh NASCAR Nationwide Series win of the season and third at the Monster Mile. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR)by Reid Spencer (Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)
Carl Edwards pulled away from Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer after a restart on Lap 168 of 200 to win Saturday’s OneMain Financial 200 Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway.

The victory was Edwards’ seventh of the year and the 36th of his career. Keselowski held off Bowyer in the closing laps to claim the runner-up position, with Bowyer running third.

Kasey Kahne finished fourth, one spot ahead of series leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who extended his margin to 22 points over polesitter Elliott Sadler, who ran 14th. There are five races left in the season.

Edwards led 179 laps en route to the victory. About the only thing that went wrong for the driver of the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was his celebratory back flip on the banked concrete track.

“Everything went great, except my back flip, which was terrible—I was nervous about doing it on the banking,” Edwards said. “But it was just an awesome day.”

Bowyer and Keselowski were able to gain on Edwards at various stages of the race, but passing him was another matter.

“It didn’t matter who it was,” Bowyer said. “When you got up to ’em, you’d get in their wake, and it would take the air off your car, and you’d get really, really loose. I about turned it around with four or five (laps) to go right there behind Brad.

“It’s definitely not worth junking a car over passing for second. I don’t know if the tables would have been turned if I was in front of him, if he would have had the same trouble, but, certainly, as you got up to him, you got loose.”

“We weren’t as good as Carl was—that’s for sure. I though for a minute we were going to steal one with some strategy when that yellow came out, but it wasn’t meant to be. Carl’s car was a lot faster, and he deserved to win the race.”

Edwards and Bowyer were putting on a two-car show when the fourth caution interrupted the action on Lap 159 during a round of green-flag pit stops. Edwards and Bowyer were on pit road when Brian Scott’s brakes locked and he clobbered the sand barrels at the entrance to pit road to bring out the yellow.

Edwards had led 141 laps to that point, and after Keselowski, Kahne, Bowyer and Stenhouse stopped under caution on Lap 163, Edwards regained the top spot. Sadler had made a green-flag stop before Scott slid into the barrels.

Trapped two laps down by the untimely caution, Sadler took a wave-around before the Lap 168 restart but took the green flag in 17th place, one lap down.

In beating Sadler by nine spots, Stenhouse felt he took a sizable step closer to the Nationwide title.

“I think we’re in control, for sure,” Stenhouse said, “but we’ve got to control what we do. We’ve got to not make mistakes. We’ve got to bring good, fast racecars to the racetrack. I’ve got to do a good job keeping it out of the fence and keeping the fenders on it.

“So far we’ve done that, and I feel like we’ve got a really good shot at this thing. I felt comfortable coming into today, and obviously, I feel a lot more comfortable afterwards. I think we’ve got a race team that’s pretty determined to win this thing.”

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NASCAR Nationwide Series Race Number 29
Unofficial Race Results for the 26Th Annual Onemain Financial 200 - Saturday,
October 1, 2011
Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE - 1 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 200 Miles - Purse: $1,014,243
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 2 60 Carl Edwards(i) Fastenal Ford 200 0 150.0 $49,775 Running 4 179
2 8 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Ruby Tuesday Dodge 200 0 119.5 $26,075 Running 2 10
3 4 33 Clint Bowyer(i) Rheem Heating Cooling and Water Heating Chevrolet 200 0 124.0 $22,250 Running
4 7 38 Kasey Kahne(i) Great Clips Chevrolet 200 0 111.9 $17,900 Running
5 6 6 Ricky Stenhouse Blackwell Angus Ford 200 39 109.4 $25,718 Running
6 9 16 Trevor Bayne RickyvsTrevor.com Ford 200 38 103.6 $21,918 Running
7 19 32 Reed Sorenson Dollar General Chevrolet 200 37 92.5 $23,528 Running
8 5 20 Ryan Truex # Heinz 57 Sauce Toyota 200 36 108.8 $22,288 Running
9 13 19 Mike Bliss TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 200 35 87.7 $24,818 Running
10 14 31 Justin Allgaier Racersites / JustinAllgaier.com Chevrolet 200 34 94.9 $21,793 Running
11 11 11 Brian Scott Shore Lodge Toyota 200 33 92.8 $20,268 Running
12 18 62 Michael Annett RaceWithRusty.com Toyota 200 32 78.6 $20,143 Running
13 3 18 Joey Logano(i) SportClips / VFW Toyota 199 0 98.6 $14,025 Running
14 1 2 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Chevrolet 199 31 1 95.5 $23,218 Running 1 10
15 16 88 Aric Almirola Ragu Chevrolet 199 29 79.9 $20,693 Running
16 10 09 Kenny Wallace Federated Auto Parts Toyota 199 28 77.7 $20,243 Running
17 15 7 Jamie McMurray(i) GoDaddy.com/GetTogether/GetOnline.org Chevrolet 199 0 77.0 $13,225 Running
18 23 51 Jeremy Clements Clements Racing Engines Chevrolet 199 26 70.0 $20,393 Running
19 17 30 Jason Leffler AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet 198 25 78.4 $19,593 Running
20 12 66 Steve Wallace 5-hour Energy Toyota 198 24 81.7 $20,268 Running
21 22 81 Blake Koch # DayStar.com Dodge 197 23 70.0 $19,493 Running
22 42 15 Timmy Hill # Poynt.com Ford 197 22 51.5 $19,393 Running
23 31 39 Fain Skinner CarPortEmpire.com Ford 194 21 50.1 $19,718 Running
24 27 14 Eric McClure Hefty BlackOut / Reynolds Chevrolet 194 20 53.1 $19,268 Running
25 39 89 Morgan Shepherd ABLE / Victory in Jesus Racing Chevrolet 194 19 57.7 $19,368 Running
26 41 28 Derrike Cope MAXelence.com Dodge 193 18 47.3 $19,643 Running
27 37 52 Kevin Lepage WarrenWoodworking/EmeritusSeniorLiving Chevrolet 191 17 45.0 $19,518 Running
28 36 70 Casey Roderick RandyHillRacing.com / acu.edu Chevrolet 190 16 51.2 $19,043 Running
29 21 01 Mike Wallace I Hate Steven Singer! Chevrolet 164 16 1 60.6 $18,968 Suspension 1 1
30 24 87 Joe Nemechek D.A.B. Constructors Toyota 137 14 50.8 $19,218 Running
31 25 23 Scott Riggs North Texas Pipe Chevrolet 128 13 52.9 $18,863 Transmission
32 33 71 Matt Carter Rick Ware Racing Ford 22 12 42.2 $12,335 Electrical
33 40 40 Josh Wise Key Motorsports Chevrolet 21 11 50.5 $12,275 Engine
34 34 75 Carl Long Rick Ware Racing Ford 16 10 42.1 $12,240 Handling
35 35 41 Johnny Chapman Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 10 9 44.4 $12,210 Rear Gear
36 38 49 Mark Green Acredale Vending Chevrolet 8 8 43.4 $12,185 Overheating
37 26 04 Kelly Bires Go Green Racing Ford 7 7 36.4 $12,165 Vibration
38 20 47 Charles Lewandoski # Key Motorsports Chevrolet 6 6 37.5 $12,100 Ignition
39 43 46 Chase Miller Key Motorsports Chevrolet 5 5 35.6 $12,075 Ignition
40 30 42 Tim Andrews Key Motorsports Chevrolet 4 4 35.1 $12,020 Electrical
41 28 82 Scott Wimmer K Love Dodge 3 3 36.7 $11,990 Ignition
42 32 50 T J Bell(i) LibertyTireRecyclers/PinnacleRubberMulch Chevrolet 3 0 31.5 $11,950 Brakes
43 29 44 Jeff Green TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 1 1 32.8 $11,892 Vibration

Race Comments: Before an estimated attendance of 38,000, Carl Edwards won the OneMain Financial 200, his 36th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory.

Failed to Qualify: (2) 03 Marc Davis, 74 Tony Raines(i).

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 42 Mins, 17 Secs. Average Speed: 117.321 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.791 Seconds

Caution Flags: 4 for 22 laps: Laps: 7-10 (Debris Turn 3 [None]); 42-47 (Competition [23]); 80-83 (Debris Turn 3 [70]); 160-167 (#11 Accident Turn 4 [62]).

Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers: E. Sadler 1-10; C. Edwards(i) 11-42; B. Keselowski(i) 43-47; C. Edwards(i) 48-80; M. Wallace 81; C. Edwards(i) 82-157; B. Keselowski(i) 158-162; C. Edwards(i) 163-200.