Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards halted Kyle Busch’s chance at a weekend sweep at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway Saturday by winning the Nashville 300 in round eight of the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series campaign. The win also extended car owner Jack Roush’s victories to five overall at the 1.33-mile speedway in the stepping stone series, the most of any owner.
Overall, it was Edwards’ fifth win in the “Music City” as he also claimed the coveted Gibson Guitar back in 2003 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series after starting sixth.
Despite it being an off-weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the best of the best still shined at the front Saturday afternoon in the first standalone battle of the season. Behind Edwards and Busch were reining Nationwide champion Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. The first of the Nationwide regulars Ricky Stenhouse Jr. claimed fifth.
It’s obvious that Edwards, the Columbia, Missouri native had one of the cars to beat as he controlled the field in the No. 60 Ford. Drive One Ford Mustang for 94 laps in the race’s first 112 circuits. A race that lacked cautions during the first half saw yellow fever pick up significantly with various spins and debris cautions shortly after halfway.
While the yellow flags were not welcomed for some, it did allow the opportunity for action to pick up on the race track which set up a brilliant side-by-side battle with Edwards and Busch which actually saw the two of them make contact while vying for the top-spot with 44 laps remaining.
After a torrid battle which including swapping the lead three times and virtually neck-and-neck for several laps Edwards was finally able to clear the Camry of Busch with 35 laps to go. The 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion would eventually pull ahead of Busch by .0521 seconds at the end to give Roush Fenway Racing their second triumph of the year.
“I have to give credit to Jack Roush (co-owner), to Ford, Doug Yates (engine builder), Mike Beam (crew chief), the guys at the shop. It looked like we were facing some insurmountable challenges, and they worked hard and got these cars better,” said Edwards, whose 31st career Nationwide Series victory, tied him with NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Jack Ingram for fourth on the all-time Nationwide Series win list.
Busch, still lurking towards the all-time NASCAR Nationwide Series winner commented on his runner-up finish, “It was a good day. The Z-Line Designs Camry was a second-best car. We knew that yesterday through practice. We saw it on the track. We worked our guts out to try to make some changes to it and the guys did a great job, they just didn’t quite have enough today. We saw that all throughout the race. I got out there and led a little bit, but knew I was only biding my time out there. We had some fun, but all in all, if you look back on the season so far, it’s been pretty good for us. Every time we’ve had a good run, we’ve been able to be in the top-three. Sometimes you have a bad run and you end up with a blown engine or a loose wheel or get spun out at Talladega. Today was a good day.”
Outside pole sitter and Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne finished sixth followed by Austin Dillon, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular making his Kevin Harvick Inc. debut in seventh.
Reed Sorenson in the No. 32 Dollar General Chevrolet led the Turner Motorsports parade with an eighth place effort he was stalked closely by both JR Motorsports entries of Josh Wise (No. 7) and Aric Almirola (No. 88) who comprised the top-10.
Justin Allgaier who sported the Wolfpack Rentals decals on his Turner Motorsports’ No. 31 Chevrolet Impala inherited the points lead following a solid 11th place finish. Kenny Wallace in Robby Benton’s No. 09 Toyota Camry’s continues to flex muscle and show early season strength with a 12th place run.
Elliott Sadler, another driver pulling double-duty at Nashville Superspeedway finished 13th in the No. 2 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet Impala while Rusty Wallace Racing’s third team had the best showing of the bunch with David Reutimann and new sponsor Flatout Flatbread claiming 14th. Former point’s leader and Turner Motorsports teammate Jason Leffler completed the top-15.
Other notables inside the top-20 included Mike Wallace in JD Motorsports entry in 18th with Michael Annett after slamming the wall late in the race rebounded for 19th and David Stremme made his Nationwide return for ML Motorsports and claimed 20th.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s third driver Brian Scott appeared to be headed towards another strong outing in his No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry but a late race incident erased those chances forcing the Boise, Idaho native to settle for 22nd.
After Joe Nemechek finished a superb third last weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Kevin Conway wheeled his No. 87 ExtenZe Toyota Camry to a 24th place finish.
Go Canada Racing’s Nationwide debut with driver J.R. Fitzpatrick did not go as well as they had hoped. After showing some race early muscle, the team slipped back in the rundown and collected a 27th place finish.
Former ARCA winner Mikey Kile made his 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series debut for Turner Motorsports but handling issues plagued the Westlake, Louisiana native issuing a disappointing 29th place finish.
Engine gremlins continue to haunt R3 Motorsports and driver Robert Richardson Jr. after the motor expired on the No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society Dodge Challenger R/T on lap 143. The team recently switched builders hoping to avoid the same plague.
Start and parks were in full force Saturday afternoon. Nine Nationwide teams parked their cars less than 35 laps into the 225 lap contest. The first to drop out was Johnny Chapman for Rick Ware Racing who only completed one lap. In fact, Rick Ware Racing whistled two start and parks with Chapman and Carl Long in the team’s No. 41 entry. The team’s full-race driver Timmy Hill finished 33rd after blowing a tire three quarters through the race.
Other S&P drivers included Tim Schendel, Tim Andrews (2nd Chance Motorsports), Nashville native Willie Allen, Matt Carter and Dennis Setzer.
For the first time in his NASCAR career 2008 ARCA champion Allgaier takes the points but is tied with Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Allgaier’s second place finish at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway bests Stenhouse’s season best of fourth — explaining how Allgaier was appointed the top spot.
Leffler dropped two spots and now stands three points behind in third with Sorenson and Bayne fourth and fifth respectively both just four markers behind Allgaier.
In the owner standings, Stremme’s 20th place run accelerated the ML Motorsports team into the top-30 and locks them in for Richmond. R3 Motorsports because of their mechanical failure dropped two positions to 32nd and now sits 10 credits behind re-entering the top-30.
Next up for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is the first of two trips to Richmond (Va.) International Raceway this season for the running of the BUBBA Burger 250 on Friday, April 29 live on SPEED beginning at 7:00 p.m.
