Carl Edwards has come back from two laps down to score victory in the Southern 500 at historic Darlington Raceway.
In an event where grip was everything, the ‘Track Too Tough To Tame’ was all that and more in a race that lasted just under four and a half hours and included 18 separate caution periods.
Edwards appeared to get caught out in the opening stages of the race when he took track position on an early caution, while others pitted. As he dropped from the lead to the back, the Toyota drive came to the pits and lost two laps in the process.
However, with NASCAR opting for a low-downforce package and Goodyear softer tyres, the caution periods continued to fly and quickly he gained two “Lucky Dogs” and got back onto the lead lap. Then during the middle stages of the race he worked his way forward to challenge the likes of pole man Brad Keselowski, series champion points leader Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano.
Keselowski was the dominant driver on the night leading a total of 196 laps, but it was a caution period with 12 laps to run that set-up the finish.
Edward’s crew were faster in fitting four fresh tyres and he won the race off pit road and also won the jump on the final re-start.
In the end Edwards won from Keselowski and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. Joey Logano finished fourth with Kevin Harvick taking fifth.
Prior to the race Edwards was critical of the low-downforce configuration, but his second victory of the season and the 25th of his career changed his mind in Victory Lane.
“I don’t think I can get in trouble for how much I liked it, but I loved it — this is as good as it gets,” Edwards said.
“This is what it’s about. We’re sliding cars, tyres are falling off — this is the style of racing — if there’s any chance we can run this in the Chase, I hope we can do it. It was an awesome day.”
The Sprint Cup Series regular season will come to a close at Richmond next weekend, before the final 10 races of the season in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
VIDEO: race recap
RESULTS: Bojangles’ Southern 500 – Darlington Raceway
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | MAKE | START | LAPS | LAPS LED | FINAL STATUS | POINTS | BONUS POINTS |
| 1 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Toyota | 13 | 367 | 15 | Running | 47 | 4 |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 1 | 367 | 196 | Running | 44 | 2 |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 6 | 367 | 57 | Running | 42 | 1 |
| 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 4 | 367 | 29 | Running | 41 | 1 |
| 5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 3 | 367 | 44 | Running | 40 | 1 |
| 6 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 2 | 367 | 7 | Running | 39 | 1 |
| 7 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 10 | 367 | 3 | Running | 38 | 1 |
| 8 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Chevrolet | 26 | 367 | 0 | Running | 36 | 0 |
| 9 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Chevrolet | 7 | 367 | 0 | Running | 35 | 0 |
| 10 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 16 | 367 | 3 | Running | 35 | 1 |
| 11 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 11 | 367 | 0 | Running | 33 | 0 |
| 12 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 15 | 367 | 2 | Running | 33 | 1 |
| 13 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 23 | 367 | 0 | Running | 31 | 0 |
| 14 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 20 | 367 | 0 | Running | 30 | 0 |
| 15 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 17 | 367 | 10 | Running | 30 | 1 |
| 16 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 5 | 367 | 0 | Running | 28 | 0 |
| 17 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 28 | 367 | 0 | Running | 27 | 0 |
| 18 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 24 | 367 | 0 | Running | 26 | 0 |
| 19 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 19 | 367 | 0 | Running | 25 | 0 |
| 20 | 40 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 31 | 367 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 14 | 367 | 0 | Running | 23 | 0 |
| 22 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 29 | 367 | 0 | Running | 22 | 0 |
| 23 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 34 | 367 | 0 | Running | 21 | 0 |
| 24 | 7 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 35 | 367 | 0 | Running | 20 | 0 |
| 25 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 25 | 367 | 0 | Running | 19 | 0 |
| 26 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 12 | 367 | 0 | Running | 18 | 0 |
| 27 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | 38 | 367 | 1 | Running | 18 | 1 |
| 28 | 9 | Sam Hornish Jr | Ford | 33 | 367 | 0 | Running | 16 | 0 |
| 29 | 13 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | 32 | 366 | 0 | Running | 15 | 0 |
| 30 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 9 | 366 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | 23 | Jeb Burton | Toyota | 41 | 364 | 0 | Running | 13 | 0 |
| 32 | 33 | Mike Bliss | Chevrolet | 42 | 363 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | 51 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 27 | 354 | 0 | Running | 11 | 0 |
| 34 | 26 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | 36 | 348 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 18 | 342 | 0 | Running | 9 | 0 |
| 36 | 34 | Brett Moffitt | Ford | 40 | 332 | 0 | Running | 8 | 0 |
| 37 | 98 | T.J. Bell | Ford | 43 | 325 | 0 | Running | 7 | 0 |
| 38 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | 8 | 313 | 0 | Running | 6 | 0 |
| 39 | 46 | Michael Annett | Chevrolet | 39 | 300 | 0 | Running | 5 | 0 |
| 40 | 55 | David Ragan | Toyota | 21 | 275 | 0 | Accident | 4 | 0 |
| 41 | 25 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 22 | 227 | 0 | Accident | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 30 | 190 | 0 | Accident | 2 | 0 |
| 43 | 35 | Cole Whitt | Ford | 37 | 5 | 0 | Accident | 1 | 0 |
STANDINGS
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