Edwards gears up at Pocono
Carl Edwards raced to his second Nextel Cup victory of the year yesterday, easily adjusting to a new gearing rule and avoiding the tire woes that plagued other drivers at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
The Missouri driver, who celebrated his first NASCAR Nextel Cup victory three months ago in Atlanta with a backflip from the window of his car, did it again, then credited the makers of a video game among other things for his win at a track he'd never seen before.
His Ford led 45 of 200 laps and beat the Chevrolet of Brian Vickers in a race that ended under caution on the 2 1/2-mile triangle. Edwards took the lead for the fourth and final time on Lap 187. Vickers led six times for 121 laps, both race highs.
Edwards, who moved from ninth to fourth in the Nextel Cup standings, set a Pocono record for winning from the deepest in the field. He started 29th. Terry Labonte held the record by winning from the 27th position in 1995.
Formula One - Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya were heading toward a 1-2 finish in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal in what was shaping up as a dominating day for McLaren-Mercedes. Then a tactical error by the team led to Montoya's disqualification and Raikkonen experienced sudden mechanical trouble.
The day was salvaged when Raikkonen nursed his car home for his third victory of the season, ending Michael Schumacher's dominance in Canada. Raikkonen also narrowed the gap to 22 points on world championship leader Fernando Alonso, who failed to finish for the first time this season.
Raikkonen had to overcome failing steering in the closing laps to hold off Schumacher, who has a record seven wins on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, including three in a row.
The McLaren miscues came with the field under caution. Raikkonen's team called him in to pit. Montoya's team failed to do so, and he had to surrender the lead on the next lap when he went in to have his car serviced. But Montoya passed a red stop light as he exited pit road, and the stewards disqualified him.
Busch -- Clint Bowyer raced to his first NASCAR Busch Series victory, beating Kenny Wallace by 2.386 seconds in the rain-delayed Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville.
