Nascar Blog

I’m not talking about black jack either. Carl Edwards held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the end to win the UAW-Dodge 400 in Las Vegas. It looked like it was going to get really interesting there at the end, until Jeff Gordon got tight and drifted up into Matt Kenseth, and hit the inside wall HARD, very, very hard to take himself out. He said afterwards that it was the hardest hit he’s ever taken, and this is in the COT, the safest car Nascar has ever used. Jeff said had he been in an older car, he might not be here right now and he definitely wants to talk to the track owners about it, hoping to get the safer barriers on all of the inside walls as well as the one around the track.

With the help of a judgment call from NASCAR, which opted not to penalize Edwards after a tire rolled away on pit road, Edwards streaked to victory in the UAW-Dodge 400 Sprint Cup race Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In a two-lap dash after NASCAR stopped the race for nearly 18 minutes to clean the track in the wake of a wreck that wiped out contenders Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon, Edwards pulled away from Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win by .504 seconds.

The victory gave Edwards the series points lead for the first time in his career, by 21 points over Las Vegas pole-sitter Kyle Busch (11th Sunday) and by 41 over Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman (14th). If Edwards remains atop the standings before the next race remains to be seen after NASCAR found an “issue” with the 99 car in post-race inspection. Source: Edwards pulls away from Junior to win at Las Vegas

The issue with the 99 car was the lid on the oil reservoir encasement, or the oil tank box, was off, while similar to an issue at Daytona with the Nationwide series cars, the lids on their cars were just loose while Carl’s was completely off. Those five cars were penalized 25 driver and owners points for the infraction.

Jimmie Johnson, the race favorite going in, finished 29th, Tony Stewart finished 43, Jeff Gordon had his second DNF so far this year, compared to only one of all last season. AJ Allmendinger could be out of a ride, temporarily at least, as they have failed to make any of the three races so far this season.

Here is how they finished:
1 2 99 Carl Edwards Ford Dish Network 195/10 267 Running 425,675
2 8 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / AMP Energy 175/5 267 Running 252,000
3 6 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 165/0 267 Running 205,800
4 17 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 160/0 267 Running 200,636
5 24 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 160/5 267 Running 178,083
6 37 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 150/0 267 Running 157,616
7 38 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance 146/0 267 Running 124,450
8 29 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Yates Racing 142/0 267 Running 140,264
9 27 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Kinko’s 138/0 267 Running 144,441
10 3 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 139/5 267 Running 140,983
11 1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M’s 135/5 267 Running 131,575
12 10 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Stanley Tools 127/0 267 Running 129,170
13 11 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Pop-Tarts / CARQUEST 124/0 267 Running 116,975
14 15 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 121/0 267 Running 144,400
15 18 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 118/0 267 Running 131,208
16 23 70 Jeremy Mayfield Chevrolet Haas Automation 115/0 267 Running 99,175
17 39 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios “Circle of Helping Hearts” 112/0 267 Running 134,311
18 35 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 109/0 267 Running 123,489
19 31 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 106/0 267 Running 123,083
20 13 17 Matt Kenseth Ford USG Sheetrock 108/5 267 Running 141,166
21 19 49 Ken Schrader Dodge Qtrax.com 100/0 267 Running 108,033
22 40 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet Johns Manville / Menards 97/0 266 Running 100,075
23 34 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditReport.com 94/0 266 Running 108,083
24 43 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 91/0 266 Running 89,850
25 36 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 88/0 266 Running 97,350
26 26 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 85/0 266 Running 101,508
27 30 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 82/0 266 Running 91,850
28 21 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 79/0 265 Running 100,850
29 33 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 76/0 265 Running 136,786
30 5 27 Mike Skinner Toyota Bad Boy Mowers 73/0 265 Running 82,875
31 22 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 70/0 265 Running 93,833
32 41 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo 67/0 265 Running 91,522
33 42 40 Dario Franchitti * Dodge Target 64/0 265 Running 92,225
34 28 01 Regan Smith * Chevrolet Coors Light 61/0 264 Running 89,575
35 4 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Nicorette / DuPont 63/5 262 Accident 130,286
36 7 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters 60/5 260 Running 81,150
37 14 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 52/0 258 Running 80,925
38 9 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 49/0 255 Accident 80,725
39 16 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 46/0 231 Accident 80,525
40 12 10 Patrick Carpentier * Dodge Valvoline 43/0 182 Accident 80,275
41 20 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge Mobil 1 40/0 152 Running 125,650
42 32 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Jim Beam 37/0 142 Accident 87,930
43 25 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 39/5 107 Accident 128,839

Here are the top 12 points positions as of right now:
1 +4 Carl Edwards 491 Leader
2 -1 Kyle Busch 470 -21
3 -1 Ryan Newman 450 -41
4 +2 Kasey Kahne 444 -47
5 +2 Kevin Harvick 428 -63
6 +3 Greg Biffle 427 -64
7 +3 Jeff Burton 421 -70
8 +4 Martin Truex Jr. 371 -120
9 +4 Elliott Sadler 368 -123
10 +13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 361 -130
11 -8 Tony Stewart 355 -136
12 -8 Kurt Busch 348 -143