Edwards Holds Off Gordon at Sonoma and Backflips to Victory Lane

Credit:  Eric Risberg / AP Photos

SONOMA, CA - RIS - After all the speculation about Roush Fenway Racing and Carl Edwards, many thought the driver of the No.99 Ford would be hard pressed to even compete the rest of the season.  The answer came in a victory on the road course at Sonoma.  Edwards held off Jeff Gordon for his second win of the season and a certain ticket into The Chase.  It was Edwards' first win on a road course.

The win also comes one week after Edwards and his two Roush Fenway Racing teammates failed to finish in the Top 10 at Michigan for the first time since the 2000 season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third for the first top-10 finish at Sonoma in his career. Jamie McMurray was fourth and Paul Menard was fifth.

"That's a moment I'll never forget, to be standing in Victory Lane and to have held off Jeff Gordon, with all the success he's had here and in our sport," Edwards said after climbing from his car. "It's just really, really special.

"I'm living proof right here that, whatever it is you're doing, just keep doing it, and don't ever give up, because somehow things can work out. I'm just very fortunate."  

"I'm glad there wasn't one or two more laps in the race, because I don't know if it would have worked that way, but it definitely meant a lot to have Jeff Gordon in my mirror."

Bowyer and Ambrose led the field to green on Lap 80, after Matt Kenseth's brutal contact with the tire barriers in the esses brought out the fourth caution of the afternoon. 

Kenseth's No. 20 Toyota spun out of control from contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevrolet, which bounced off the curbing and into the side of Kenseth's car. 

"My bad -- I hit the curb and ran into him," Earnhardt said on his radio.

What happened before the previous caution, however, was the crux of the race. Edwards, Ambrose and Bowyer all came to pit road right before NASCAR called a caution for debris in Turn 10 on Lap 71. That enabled them to stay out under the yellow and propelled them to the front of the field.

Edwards was able to stay there, despite heavy pressure from Gordon in the closing laps.

In fact, Gordon said a mistake in Turn 4 six laps before the finish may have cost him the race.

"Gosh, I wish I could have had those last five or six laps to do over again," Gordon said. "I started overdriving it a little bit trying to catch him and making a few mistakes, and I made one in particular that really cost me. 

"I think if I had just stayed smooth and stuck with it -- looked like his car really started falling off those last couple laps, and I might have had a shot at least putting more pressure on Carl to force him to make a mistake or maybe get a run inside of him."

There were significant fireworks, however, before that final run. Bowyer started losing positions after the restart on Lap 80 as Edwards surged into second place. Johnson passed the No. 15 Toyota entering Turn 11 on Lap 81, and Bowyer, who had a tire going down, spun after contact from the front bumper of McMurray's Chevy.

With nowhere to go on the inside of the corner, Kevin Harvick slammed into Bowyer. Harvick had one of the fastest cars on Sunday but had gotten mired in traffic because of a slow stop on pit road before a restart on Lap 75.

The wreck dropped Harvick to 20th at the finish, but Bowyer rallied for his 10th-place result.

It's a quick turnaround for the Sprint Cup drivers and crews.  With a 42-hour trip home for the haulers and tech inspection for all the cars at Kentucky Speedway on Thursday, teams will have little time to get ready for the next race on Saturday night.

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 4 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 110 47 4 119.9 $335,790 Running 1 26
2 15 24 Jeff Gordon Panasonic Chevrolet 110 43 1 119.1 $238,266 Running 1 3
3 17 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet 110 41 105.8 $167,230 Running
4 1 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna Chevrolet 110 41 1 126.0 $185,869 Running 2 9
5 9 27 Paul Menard Richmond / Menards Chevrolet 110 39 93.6 $147,344 Running
6 30 5 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Chevrolet 110 38 96.7 $126,870 Running
7 22 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 110 38 1 111.8 $157,431 Running 1 1
8 23 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 110 37 1 94.3 $137,340 Running 1 5
9 19 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 110 35 86.2 $143,820 Running
10 25 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota 110 35 1 93.0 $136,411 Running 1 5
11 7 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 110 33 92.1 $107,785 Running
12 5 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 110 32 95.0 $101,635 Running
13 12 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 110 31 82.3 $129,543 Running
14 8 55 Brian Vickers Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 110 30 83.8 $128,910 Running
15 18 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet 110 29 82.4 $123,643 Running
16 10 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 110 29 1 76.1 $132,326 Running 1 3
17 26 3 Austin Dillon # Dow Chevrolet 110 27 65.3 $141,596 Running
18 11 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 110 26 69.6 $102,310 Running
19 21 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 / Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 110 25 66.2 $127,743 Running
20 6 4 Kevin Harvick Outback / Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet 110 25 1 101.6 $131,193 Running 2 23
21 27 38 David Gilliland Love's Travel Stop Ford 110 23 61.1 $116,068 Running
22 13 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 110 22 58.2 $133,268 Running
23 29 43 Aric Almirola Nathan's Famous Ford 110 21 61.8 $127,671 Running
24 28 95 Michael McDowell K-LOVE Radio Ford 110 20 57.4 $86,785 Running
25 20 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Pretzel Toyota 110 19 60.4 $134,701 Running
26 16 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 110 18 65.6 $97,035 Running
27 32 26 Cole Whitt # Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters Toyota 110 17 49.2 $88,385 Running
28 3 42 Kyle Larson # Target Chevrolet 110 16 74.2 $114,555 Running
29 38 23 Alex Bowman # Dr Pepper Toyota 110 15 44.7 $101,643 Running
30 42 7 Michael Annett # Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet 110 14 40.2 $100,493 Running
31 24 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. EcoPower Oil Ford 109 13 58.0 $122,485 Running
32 40 36 Reed Sorenson Theme Park Connection Chevrolet 109 12 39.1 $93,537 Running
33 35 51 Justin Allgaier # Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet 109 11 39.6 $91,880 Running
34 39 44 JJ Yeley(i) Phoenix Warehouse Chevrolet 109 0 32.0 $83,745 Running
35 41 32 Boris Said 7-Eleven / Amerigas Ford 109 9 33.7 $83,605 Running
36 31 34 David Ragan Long John Silver's Free Fish & Fries Ford 109 8 40.3 $91,520 Running
37 2 47 AJ Allmendinger Kingsford / Clorox Chevrolet 108 9 2 103.5 $89,983 Running 2 35
38 43 66 Tomy Drissi MightyHercules.com Toyota 108 6 25.9 $85,850 Running
39 36 33 Alex Kennedy Media CAST Chevrolet 104 5 34.2 $73,850 Rear Gear
40 33 98 Josh Wise Dogecoin / Reddit.com Chevrolet 95 4 32.5 $69,850 Running
41 34 83 Ryan Truex # Burger King Toyota 91 3 40.5 $65,850 Running
42 14 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 74 2 67.5 $110,986 Accident
43 37 40 Landon Cassill(i) carsforsale.com Chevrolet 29 0 25.8 $58,350 Engine

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the midle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2014, Issue 6, Posted 6:55 PM, 06.22.2014