NNS: Carl Edwards Wins, Making Up a Little Ground

Carl Edwards won Saturday's Hefty Odor Block 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Phoenix International Raceway -- and championship leader Clint Bowyer got lucky.

While being second in the point standings, Edwards trimmed Bowyer's lead down from 91 points to 56, on a day that could have been so much uglier for the driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet.

Other finishers were Denny Hamlin, who came to the pits for new tires before a green-white-checkered-flag restart that took the event one lap past its scheduled distance of 200 laps, made a valiant charge from fifth to second in the final two laps. Kevin Harvick finished third, followed by Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch and rookie Landon Cassill.

A great pit stop on Lap 130 got Edwards out ahead of Harvick, and he then held the top spot the rest of the way.

"We couldn't be going to a better racetrack," Edwards said. "I like the fact that you can run at the bottom or the top. I'm sure (crew chief) Drew (Blickensderfer) will bring the best car we have. I just hope it's fast enough."

Bowyer appeared headed for disaster on Lap 79, when the field was bunched coming to the line for a restart after the sixth caution of the race.

"I thought we were done," Bowyer said. "We got all bottled up there. The 88 (Brad Keselowski) ran into me, and I drove through the 6 (David Ragan)."

The impact damaged the nose of Bowyer's Chevy, and after a series of pit stops to tape the front end, Bowyer fell to the back of the pack. After another quick caution on Lap 85, Bowyer restarted 24th and spent the rest of the race working his way forward.

"It was a roller coaster, for sure," he said. "But I'm really proud of our guys. They didn't give up. I thought our championship run was done right there. The car was really tight after that, and we had to pull all the tape off. But it was a good run for us -- really proud."

Even though he knew Bowyer's car was damaged, Edwards wasn't about to relax, and just as well. He had watched the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday night, in which title contenders Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Benson both suffered a litany of problems.

"I thought, sure enough, as soon as I start relaxing and counting points, something would happen to us," he said. "They did a good job of recovering. Anytime you can have any damage and fight back and finish fourth, that's a good outcome."

Other Notes:
Joey Logano's No. 20 Toyota slammed the inside wall on the frontstretch coming to the white flag, but Logano salvaged a 10th-place finish to keep the Joe Gibbs car 28 points ahead of the No. 2 Chevy Bowyer drives for Richard Childress in the race for the owners' title…

Brian Ickler started 34th and finished 34th in his Nationwide Series debut.

The next and final race of the Nationwide Series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway next Saturday.

For complete results: Nationwide Results | Points

Source: By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
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