Edwards good to the last drops
Rain was falling. The cars were parked on pit road with Carl Edwards in 22d place, and the driver and crew chief Bob Osborne were arguing heatedly on top of the team's pit box.
Not the most likely formula for winning a race.
Edwards and several other race leaders had pitted minutes earlier after rain began falling on Lap 127 of the 200-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup race yesterday at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. Nineteen other drivers, taking a gamble on the possibility of a rain-shortened race, had stayed on track.
"The argument came from when it started raining real hard, then we were trying to blame one another for the idea of coming [onto pit road]," Edwards said. "Bob said it was my idea and I really felt like it was his idea. I had to leave the pit box because I was worried Bob was going to, like, punch me in the neck or something.
"I had to walk away. But, personally, I feel like we have a good relationship. We can be perfectly honest with one another and that's really valuable."
It all worked out fine, with the race resuming after a 41-minute red flag and Edwards and Osborne winning the gamble - whoever's idea it was. Edwards was able to stretch his last tank of fuel to earn his fourth victory of the season, second only to series points leader Kyle Busch's seven wins.
He beat Tony Stewart by almost four seconds - half the front straightaway on the 2 1/2-mile trioval. Stewart and third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson were both on the same strategy as Edwards. Johnson was one of several drivers who coasted across the finish line, out of gas.
Kevin Harvick, who crashed with Joe Nemechek on the first lap, came back to finish fourth, just ahead of David Ragan.
The victory vaulted Edwards from fifth to third in the season standings with just five races remaining until the start of the Chase for the championship. Edwards trails only Dale Earnhardt Jr. and leader Busch, who also leads with seven victories. Busch made a gas stop on Lap 199 and fell from fourth to 36th, the last driver on the lead lap. But he owns a 176-point lead over Earnhardt, who finished 12th.
Formula One - Heikki Kovalainen won his first Formula One race after an engine problem forced Felipe Massa out of the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest with three laps to go. Massa's engine overheated, enabling Kovalainen to take an 11-second victory over Timo Glock. Lewis Hamilton came in fifth and stretched his lead over Kimi Raikkonen in the overall standings to five points.
