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Carl Edwards, who began Sunday’s rain-plagued Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway last in Chase points, ended the race with a trip to Victory Lane and the automatic berth in the championship-deciding Round of Four.

Edwards, who had crashed a week ago at Martinsville Speedway, damaging both his Joe Gibbs Race car and his Chase chances, took the lead under caution on Lap 257 at TMS when his crew gave him an 11-second pit stop.

That put Edwards ahead of Martin Truex Jr. and gave him a lead he never gave up as the race was ended by officials when rain began to fall on Lap 293 of the scheduled 334 laps.

“I enjoyed it,” Edwards said of a race that had its start time pushed back until the early evening by rain. “The pressure was really mounting, and obviously, this is what we had to do. (Crew chief) Dave (Rogers) and the guys—they got me off pit road first, and that’s what won it for us. …

“We’ve got a shot at the championship. That’s all we wanted this year, and I can’t wait to go to Homestead. It’s going to be a blast.”

The victory was the third of the season for Edwards and his fourth at the TMS quadoval. It means that two of the four Finals berths are now decided – Jimmie Johnson, last week’s winner at Martinsville owns the other.

Joey Logano, who led a race-high 178, was second when the race was called. Truex finished third, followed by Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

“We had a good AAA Fusion that was capable of winning the race,” Logano said. “We just lost our track position on a green-flag cycle and got our balance off a little bit. We got it fixed and got it going and had a good restart at the end to get back to second but it seemed like we needed maybe five or 10 more laps to try to catch the 19 there.

“We were making up about three-tenths (of a second) a lap when the caution came out. It is what it is. We’re disappointed with second which is a good thing. I think we’re in (the top four in the Chase) right now, but it sure would have been nice to be locked in. It sure would make it easier next week.”

Team Penske’s Logano is third in the Chase standings; he’s even with JGR’s Kyle Busch in points but currently holds the tiebreaker on the basis of the runner-up finish at Texas.

Kenseth and ninth-place finisher Denny Hamlin are one and two points behind Logano, respectively.

Harvick likely needs a victory next Sunday at Phoenix to advance to the Championship 4 for the third straight year. The 2014 champion tangled with pole-sitter Austin Dillon.

Dillon slid up in front of Harvick, and contact between the two Chevrolets sent Dillon hard into the outside wall, ending his race. Harvick asserted on his radio that the bump was unintentional. Dillon disagreed.

“He is tucked down to my door tighter than anybody did all night,” Dillon said. “He knew how tight he was on my door, and that’s why I got tight and slid up in front of him. He didn’t check (up), but he had the opportunity to.

“So we’ll be all right. We have two weeks left, and we just want to come out and win a race.”

Harvick trails Logano and Kyle Busch by 18 points entering the final race of the Chase’s Round of 8.

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race – AAA Texas 500

Texas Motor Speedway

Fort Worth, Texas

Sunday, November 06, 2016

1. (9) Carl Edwards (C), Toyota, 293.
2. (2) Joey Logano (C), Ford, 293.
3. (12) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 293.
4. (11) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 293.
5. (24) Kyle Busch (C), Toyota, 293.
6. (3) Kevin Harvick (C), Chevrolet, 293.
7. (7) Matt Kenseth (C), Toyota, 293.
8. (31) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 293.
9. (17) Denny Hamlin (C), Toyota, 293.
10. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 293.
11. (19) Jimmie Johnson (C), Chevrolet, 293.
12. (8) * Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 293.
13. (16) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, 293.
14. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 293.
15. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 293.
16. (20) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 293.
17. (14) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 293.
18. (25) Greg Biffle, Ford, 292.
19. (15) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 292.
20. (10) Kurt Busch (C), Chevrolet, 292.
21. (30) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 292.
22. (21) Aric Almirola, Ford, 292.
23. (28) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 291.
24. (22) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 291.
25. (27) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 291.
26. (32) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 291.
27. (29) Brian Scott #, Ford, 291.
28. (6) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 290.
29. (34) Landon Cassill, Ford, 290.
30. (26) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 289.
31. (23) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 288.
32. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 287.
33. (36) David Ragan, Toyota, 287.
34. (33) Jeffrey Earnhardt #, Toyota, 285.
35. (38) * Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 285.
36. (39) Joey Gase(i), Ford, 280.
37. (1) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 262.
38. (35) * Ryan Ellis(i), Toyota, 261.
39. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, Accident, 260.
40. (40) * Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Electrical, 257.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  134.541 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 16 Mins, 00 Secs. Margin of Victory:  Caution.

Caution Flags:  8 for 37 laps.

Lead Changes:  12 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   A. Dillon 1-5; J. Logano (C) 6-30; D. Ragan 31; J. Logano (C) 32-74; A. Dillon 75; D. Hamlin (C) 76; Kyle Busch (C) 77-78; J. Logano (C) 79-188; M. Truex Jr. 189-222; C. Elliott # 223-224; M. Truex Jr. 225-256; C. Elliott # 257; C. Edwards (C) 258-293.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  J. Logano (C) 3 times for 178 laps; M. Truex Jr. 2 times for 66 laps; C. Edwards (C) 1 time for 36 laps; A. Dillon 2 times for 6 laps; C. Elliott # 2 times for 3 laps; Kyle Busch (C) 1 time for 2 laps; D. Hamlin (C) 1 time for 1 lap; D. Ragan 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 16 in Points: J. Johnson (C) – 4,074; J. Logano (C) – 4,074; Kyle Busch (C) – 4,074; M. Kenseth (C) – 4,073; D. Hamlin (C) – 4,072; K. Harvick (C) – 4,056; C. Edwards (C) – 4,049; Kurt Busch (C) – 4,040; M. Truex Jr. – 2,265; B. Keselowski – 2,234; C. Elliott # – 2,223; K. Larson – 2,209; A. Dillon – 2,192; T. Stewart – 2,166; J. Mcmurray – 2,165; C. Buescher # – 2,143.

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