Carl Edwards Wins At Bristol Motor Speedway

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Published on April 18 2016 6:32 am
Last Updated on April 18 2016 6:32 am

Carl Edwards took his first celebratory backflip of the season and easily stuck the landing.

"I considered not doing it," he said. "I haven't done one for a while."

He earned that acrobatic moment because his No. 19 Toyota gripped Bristol Motor Speedway much better than his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates' cars did Sunday.

Edwards avoided the tire issues that plagued his teammates and took off on the final restart to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on the half-mile bullring.

He made it look easy. Starting on the pole for the second straight week, Edwards' Camry led eight times, for 276 of 500 laps, en route to his first victory since September at Darlington and fourth at Bristol. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second, followed by Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott and Trevor Bayne.

"We didn't have any trouble, and that's just a testament to everyone at the shop and whole team," said Edwards, who now trails new points leader Kevin Harvick (seventh) by a point. "It's really awesome to have a win so we can really have fun and focus on the championship."

Edwards' flawless day contrasted the right-front tire problems endured by teammates Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin after all of them started in the top five.

Busch, the defending series champion and points leader coming in, had trouble throughout the race. He finally exited after his car smacked the wall on Lap 259 and sustained heavy damage. He failed to finish a race for the first time since June at Michigan.