6B
Monday, May 23, 2011
SPORTS
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Laura Ellingson • 218-855-5823
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Edwards rolls to easy win in All-Star Race CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — The race was billed as a throwback to the Wild West, and track officials practically promised scores would be settled in the $1 million Sprint All-Star Race. Only the knock ’em down action never came, and the only fireworks were those in Saturday night’s post-race show at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The only drama came after Carl Edwards took the checkered flag during his celebratory slide through the grass. Although he appeared to hit either a manhole cover or a drainage device, his car instead seemed only to dip hard into the grass — contact that crumpled the front of his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. After his trademark celebratory backflip, Edwards needed a tow truck to take him to Victory Lane. He left behind a deep rut in Charlotte’s infield grass. “You never know what comes from misfortunes and it was definitely unfortunate,” Edwards said. “Pretty wild twist of fate that we tore it up, but I’m going to have faith something good will come from it.” Edwards had a sheepish grin as he climbed out his window for his customary celebratory backflip, and he apologized to crew chief Bob Osborne for wrecking the car. “That’s a million dollars. We just won a million dollars,” Edwards said from Victory Lane. “I feel so bad about tearing up the car. But I’m sure Bob’s got a better one.” Edwards won three of the four segments in the 100-lap race, but still had one last pit stop and a 10-lap sprint to the finish before he could claim his first AllStar victory. NASCAR brought the field in for a 10-minute break following the third segment, then sent the cars back to the track for parade laps before they were required to return to pit road for a fourtire stop. The stop is where the pit crews have their chance to shine in this event, and Edwards’ team delivered. He came in as the leader and left as the leader, beating Busch back onto the track. Edwards then got a terrific jump on the restart and easily pulled away. “As far as he jumped out on me really surprised me,” Busch said. “He took off so far, I was like ‘Damn, there ain’t no way I am going to be able to run him down in this short period of time.”’
Edwards praised his Roush-Yates engine for the speed he had throughout the race, and for the restart that helped him pull away from Busch. “The restart was good, and man, that thing, it really runs,” Edwards said. Busch, who has a history of wrecking cars capable of winning the All-Star race, settled for second in a Toyota and will bring the car back next week as his backup for the Coca-Cola 600. “Considering our fleet has been getting a little bit low, this is pretty good,” Busch said of his second-place finish. “I didn’t put a scratch on it. It was a good one.” Edwards had little time to celebrate. He was off after the race to catch a flight to Iowa to run the Nationwide Series race on Sunday. “I really can’t wait to go,” he said. “The most enjoyable thing I can do is go race another car.” Most everyone else will have to wait for next week’s Coca-Cola 600, the longest race of the NASCAR season. The All-Star race is usually the warm-up act for the 600, and the final 10 laps of Saturday night have always been billed as a wild, dash for the cash. But the excitement never came, as the drivers raced clean and caution free. “This was a pretty tame night, at least from the All-Star perspective,” Tony Stewart said. David Reutimann was third in a Toyota and followed by Stewart, who celebrated his 40th birthday a day earlier. Greg Biffle was fifth, Matt Kenseth was sixth and RFR teammate David Ragan was eighth to put all four of the team’s car inside the top eight. Ragan won the Sprint Showdown qualifier earlier Saturday to earn his spot in the field. Denny Hamlin was seventh. Kevin Harvick was ninth and Ryan Newman rounded out the top 10. Kurt Busch’s struggles continued Saturday night and he sounded despondent over his team’s performance for much of the event. He finished 13th. His teammate, Brad Keselowski, finished 18th after moving into the All-Star race with a second-place finish in the qualifier. Dale Earnhardt Jr., made his way into the race by winning the fan vote that puts a third driver from the Sprint Showdown into the main event. But he had nothing for the contenders in the All-Star race and finished 14th.
Stenhouse wins Nationwide race in Iowa NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — With most of the Sprint Cup stars busy with the AllStar Race at Charlotte, the NASCAR Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway was the perfect opportunity for one of the regulars in that series to to win for the first time this season. The breakthrough was provided by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — and it wasn’t a fluke either. Stenhouse held off the only Cup points contenders in the field, Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski, and became the first Nationwide regular to pick up a victory since Justin Allgaier won at Bristol in March of 2010. “I think it feels good for the Nationwide guys. I don’t think we’re the only Nationwide regular that’s going to win a race this year,” Stenhouse said. “To be that first one it feels good. I feel like since we got that first one out of the way, hopefully the next few will be a little easier.” Edwards, who won the Sprint AllStar Race at Charlotte on Saturday night, fell behind his Roush-Fenway teammate with 18 laps to go and finished second. Keselowski, who captured the inaugural Nationwide event at Iowa in 2009, was third, followed by Reed Sorenson and Elliott Sadler. Kenny Wallace, whose brother Rusty designed Iowa’s 7/8th-mile oval, joined Jason Keller as the only drivers to run 500 Nationwide races. He finished a season-best sixth. Roush-Fenway teammates Stenhouse and Edwards swapped the lead a number of times down the stretch, but Stenhouse slipped free late and beat Edwards by over four seconds. Stenhouse came out on top after the 17th and final lead change of the race and earned his first victory in 51 starts, giving the entire Nationwide series a boost in the process. “I’m very happy for Ricky,” Keselowski said. “It’s good to see a Nationwide regular come out there and win a race. It’s been a little while.” Allgaier, who started in the back after wrecking his main car in practice, stayed out while others were pitting
and took a brief lead about 40 laps from the finish. Brian Scott then spun out in front of the leaders, drawing out a caution flag that put Edwards back in front with Stenhouse. Given recent history, it seemed inevitable that Edwards would eventually grab the lead and pull off the weekend sweep. But it was Stenhouse’s No. 6 car that proved to be the strongest. “The Mustang was just so fast all day. I was babying there for a little while and riding around with Carl, but I think when I drove it hard, it would take it,” Stenhouse said. Edwards didn’t crumple the No. 60 car like he did to the No. 99 after winning the All-Star Race Saturday night, but in hindsight he might have tweaked it a bit too much during a late pit stop. “I asked for some adjustments that I probably should have not asked for and Ricky was able to hold on for the win. I think our cars were about the same speed. He was just out front, and man he was wheeling it,” Edwards said. The field was set on owner’s points with qualifying rained out. That put Drew Herring of Joe Gibbs Racing on the pole, even though Herring hadn’t run a Nationwide race all year until he got to Iowa. Herring started strong, leading for the first 38 laps before being passed Michael McDowell in Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota. McDowell led for 19 laps, more than double the total he had in 72 previous series starts. Predictably, both faded. They finished well, though, with McDowell taking seventh and Herring clearing in 12th. Sunday also marked the first time three women ran the same Nationwide race. Veteran Jennifer Jo Cobb started along with the Cope twins, Angela and Amber, who were making their series debuts. Both Copes ran into trouble midway through the race, spinning out in similar fashion. Cobb was 26th, Angela finished 28th and Amber was 32nd. This was the first of two Nationwide events at Iowa this season after the relatively new track drew strong crowds for solo races in 2009 and 2010.