Carl Edwards bump-and-runs teammate Kyle Busch to gain RIR win
Carl Edwards won his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in a row on Sunday, going to Victory Lane in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Speedway by sealing the deal on the final turn of the final lap.
It came down to a late-race battle for the lead between Edwards and Kyle Busch, with Busch at the front and Edwards stalking him.
Edwards finally caught up to Busch on the final turn of the final lap, nudging the No. 18 Toyota of Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for the lead and the win. It was the first last-lap pass for a win in a Sprint Cup race at RIR in the long and storied history of the .75-mile track.
Edwards admitted that he had second thoughts about executing the late bump-and-run pass for the lead on a JGR teammate.
"Yeah, it was a huge question," Edwards told FOX Sports. "Kyle's an amazing teammate. It's like he just got really slow right there at the end. Something happened that last lap. His rear tires went off or something.
"He went down into (Turn) 1 and I dove it in and I thought, 'Man, I've got something here.' Then he went down low to park it in Turns 3 and 4 and I thought, 'OK, I'm just going to give him a little nudge."
Busch was philosophical after being forced to settle for second.
"We were fast. Maybe not as good as Carl on the long runs, but we did everything right," Busch said. "We did everything we were supposed to do and put ourselves in the right position."
Jimmie Johnson finished third, with Kasey Kahne and pole-sitter Kevin Harvick rounding out the top five.
Meanwhile, Tony Stewart's much-awaited return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series took a bad turn on Lap 268 of the 400-lap event.
Stewart was running 21st, the first car one lap down, on a restart when the No. 22 Team Penske Ford of driver Joey Logano shot the gap up the middle and made contact with Stewart's No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.
In the process, Logano inadvertently cut the left-rear tire on Stewart's car. The tire blew shortly thereafter, forcing Stewart to bring his limping car to pit road.
Stewart fell to 28th as a result, but battled back from there to finish 19th in his first race of the season after missing the first eight because of a back injury suffered just weeks before the season-opening Daytona 500.
Five drivers, including the race winner, led 40 or more laps in Sunday's race.
Edwards led a total of 151, Kyle Busch led 78, Harvick 63, Kurt Busch 55 and Johnson 44.
Each took his turn seemingly as the class of the field, but it was Kyle Busch's Toyota that came to life the latest --“ and seemingly at just the right time.
Kyle Busch's JGR pit crew also played a huge role in helping him get to the lead after a Brian Scott spin brought out the caution with 41 laps remaining and changed everything.
The leaders all came to pit road, and Kurt Busch's team struggled on the stop. Kurt came in as the leader and came out in fourth as his younger brother assumed the lead instead.
Kyle Busch then remained in command until Edwards executed a perfect bump-and-run to pass him on the final turn of the final lap for the victory.
The two JGR drivers have now combined to win the last four Sprint Cup races on the schedule, with Busch winning at Martinsville and Texas before Edwards won last week at Bristol and now at RIR. That means both already have clinched their spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup that will determine this season's champion over the final 10 races of the season.
"We've both got wins so we're both in (the Chase), so we're racing for fun and getting these trophies," Edwards said. "It was just an awesome day."