Carl Edwards Bumps Out Kyle Busch and Wins at Richmond
Carl Edwards wins his second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and the fourth in a row for Joe Gibbs Racing on Sunday at Richmond International Raceway. Edwards did it in a dramatic fashion, in the bump-and-run finish against teammate Kyle Busch, who was chasing his third season’s victory.
Busch grabbed the lead in a Toyota Owners 400 after a last restart on Lap 365 of 400. He stayed out front until the last-lap contant of Edwards’ and his Toyotas. Edwards bumped him out and took the victory with 0.675sec advantage.
Video: Last lap at Richmond
Edwards: I gave him a little nudge
“Kyle’s an amazing teammate, and it’s like he got really slow there at the end. Something happened that last lap. It was like his rear tires went off or something. He went down into 1 and I dove it in and I got to him and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got something’. And he went to get down to the bottom and park it in 3 and 4, and I had already decided to go down there, so I thought, ‘Man, I’m going to give him a little nudge.’ And we both have got wins, and we’re racing for fun getting these trophies and just an awesome day,” Edwards said in Victory Lane. Busch didn’t want to comment Edwards’ move.
The 400-lap race at 0.75-mile long oval featured 23 lead changes among eight drivers. Jimmie Johnson finished third, followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne. Kevin Harvick finished fifth ahead of Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Tony Stewart, who was back on track after a back injury and surgery, started 18th and finished 19th.
Check the complete results of Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond
Dale Earnhardt Jr won Xfinity Series race at Richmond
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 13th in the Sprint Cup race, a day after he won Xfinity Series ToyotaCare 250 race at the same track. It was his first Xfinity Series win since 2010 and the first in his own JR Motorsports car. The victory was Earnhardt’s fourt at Richmond, his first since 2002.
Earnhardt led 128 of the 149 laps after passing Erik Jones for the top spot on Lap 18. In the exciting finish Earnhardt held off Ty Dillon by .266 seconds in a race that ran nine laps past its scheduled distance of 140 laps, because of massive late-race wreck. Ty Dillon collected the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus available to the two highest finishes among Xfinity Series regulars from each of the two heats that preceded the main event.
Elliott Sadler finished third, followed by series leader Daniel Suarez, who has nine points advatage over Sadler. Austin Dillon finished fifth and Cole Custer sixth in his Xfinity Series debut.
Video: Xfinity Series race at Richmond
