Edwards ends winless streak in Phoenix

Carl Edwards has ended a 70 race winless streak in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup division by beating Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson to the flag at Phoenix.

The Roush Fenway Ford driver survived a green-white-chequer restart to lead home Johnson by just over a second.

The five-time champion was left somewhat aggrieved by Edwards’ tactics on multiple late restarts, claiming his Ford rival had slowed below pace car speeds in order to get a greater jump at the green flag.

Denny Hamlin rebounded from a tough Daytona to take third following some last-lap fender-rubbing with Johnson, while Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr completed the top five.

Clint Boywer, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton filled sixth through 10th.

AJ Allmendinger was a strong 11th on return to the series with James Finch’s Chevrolet team following his prohibited substance ban last year.

Pole-sitter Mark Martin came home a disappointing 21st after a late unscheduled pitstop to remedy a loose wheel.

Australian Marcos Ambrose was three places up the road in 18th, while Daytona star Danica Patrick failed to finish after a punctured tyre sent her Chevrolet into the wall on the 186th lap.

See below for the full race result

 

Pos	Driver	#	Car	Start	Laps
1	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	15	316
2	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	3	316
3	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	8	316
4	Brad Keselowski	2	Ford	11	316
5	Dale Earnhardt Jr	88	Chevrolet	21	316
6	Clint Bowyer	15	Toyota	13	316
7	Matt Kenseth	20	Toyota	9	316
8	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	6	316
9	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	5	316
10	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	20	316
11	AJ Allmendinger	51	Chevrolet	23	316
12	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	29	316
13	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	7	316
14	Casey Mears	13	Ford	43	316
15	Aric Almirola	43	Ford	18	316
16	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	17	Ford	12	316
17	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	17	316
18	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	22	316
19	Kasey Kahne	5	Chevrolet	2	316
20	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	16	316
21	Mark Martin	55	Toyota	1	316
22	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	19	316
23	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	4	316
24	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	33	315
25	David Reutimann	83	Toyota	34	315
26	Joey Logano	22	Ford	32	315
27	Kurt Busch	78	Chevrolet	25	315
28	J.J. Yeley	36	Chevrolet	27	315
29	Travis Kvapil	93	Toyota	30	313
30	David Stremme	30	Toyota	37	313
31	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	41	311
32	Landon Cassill	33	Chevrolet	38	309
33	Dave Blaney	7	Chevrolet	26	306
34	Ken Schrader	32	Ford	42	300
35	Josh Wise	35	Ford	36	295
36	Martin Truex Jr	56	Toyota	14	284
37	David Gilliland	38	Ford	31	237
38	David Ragan	34	Ford	24	186
39	Danica Patrick	10	Chevrolet	40	184
40	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	10	137
41	Scott Speed	95	Ford	28	88
42	Mike Bliss	19	Toyota	35	34
43	Scott Riggs	44	Ford	39	19

 
See below for video of the last lap battle between Johnson and Hamlin

See below for video of Patrick’s crash