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Edwards wins on fuel mileage in Charlotte

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By Speedcafe.com

Monday 25th May, 2015 - 12:58pm

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Carl Edwards scored victory in NASCAR's longest race

Carl Edwards scored victory in NASCAR’s longest race

Carl Edwards scored his first victory for Joe Gibbs Racing with a calculated run in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

The Toyota driver made the best of the fuel strategy to conserve his way to the chequered flag ahead of former Roush Fenway Ford team-mate Greg Biffle.

The result backed up victory for fellow JGR driver Denny Hamlin in Charlotte’s All-Star race last weekend.

“JGR is back,” beamed Edwards in victory lane.

“These Toyotas are great. I was the slowest of the group tonight and I just had the best guys on the pit box.

“Darian (Grubb, crew chief) did a great job. Ever since Tony (Stewart) and I battled for that championship I wanted to work with him and now I can.

“He takes a mediocre day and puts us in a good position.”

Matt Kenseth added to the joy for JGR by recovering from a loose wheel to trail Dale Earnhardt Jr home in fourth.

The front-runners had diverged into two distinct strategies when the final yellow was called with 62 of the 400 laps remaining.

While Edwards led seven cars who elected to pit and then conserve to the end, the bulk of the field stayed out, running faster but forced to make a final stop.

Martin Truex Jr was the most high profile victim of the latter strategy, leading a race high 131 laps only to finish fifth.

“I don’t know what to do about fuel mileage races,” he said. “I’ve never come out on the right end of them.”

Brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch, who returned from an injury sustained in Daytona, were also long-time front-runners before coming home 10th and 11th respectively.

Jimmie Johnson was a notable absentee from the late race fight after crashing out of the top five on lap 273.

VIDEO: Carl Edwards wins the Coke 600

VIDEO: Victory Lane

RESULTS: Coca-Cola 600 – Charlotte Motor Speedway 

POS. CAR # DRIVER MANUFACTURER STARTING POS. LAPS LAPS LED FINAL STATUS POINTS BONUS POINTS
1 19 Carl Edwards Toyota 3 400 25 Running 47 4
2 16 Greg Biffle Ford 4 400 0 Running 42 0
3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 15 400 0 Running 41 0
4 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 1 400 26 Running 41 1
5 78 Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 10 400 131 Running 41 2
6 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 19 400 0 Running 38 0
7 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 6 400 3 Running 38 1
8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 5 400 53 Running 37 1
9 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 8 400 26 Running 36 1
10 41 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 14 400 118 Running 35 1
11 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 17 400 0 Running 33 0
12 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 33 400 0 Running 32 0
13 22 Joey Logano Ford 2 400 17 Running 32 1
14 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 23 400 0 Running 30 0
15 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 18 400 0 Running 29 0
16 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 11 400 0 Running 28 0
17 43 Aric Almirola Ford 21 399 0 Running 27 0
18 25 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 28 399 0 Running 0 0
19 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 22 399 0 Running 25 0
20 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 24 399 0 Running 24 0
21 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 12 399 0 Running 23 0
22 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 20 398 0 Running 22 0
23 13 Casey Mears Chevrolet 34 398 0 Running 21 0
24 9 Sam Hornish Jr Ford 26 398 0 Running 20 0
25 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 9 398 0 Running 19 0
26 7 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 31 397 0 Running 18 0
27 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 27 397 0 Running 17 0
28 35 Cole Whitt Ford 37 396 0 Running 16 0
29 47 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 30 395 0 Running 15 0
30 95 Michael McDowell Ford 25 394 0 Running 14 0
31 34 Brett Moffitt Ford 40 393 0 Running 13 0
32 46 Michael Annett Chevrolet 36 393 0 Running 12 0
33 38 David Gilliland Ford 39 392 1 Running 12 1
34 83 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 42 392 0 Running 10 0
35 98 Josh Wise Ford 38 392 0 Running 9 0
36 33 Alex Kennedy Chevrolet 43 389 0 Running 8 0
37 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford 29 382 0 Running 7 0
38 23 J.J. Yeley Toyota 41 377 0 Engine 0 0
39 40 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 32 375 0 Running 0 0
40 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 13 370 0 Running 4 0
41 55 David Ragan Toyota 7 353 0 Engine 3 0
42 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 16 281 0 Engine 0 0
43 51 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 35 135 0 Accident 1 0

 

STANDINGS 

POS DRIVER POINTS BEHIND STARTS WINS TOP 5 TOP 10 DNF
1 Kevin Harvick 473 Leader 12 2 8 11 0
2 Martin Truex Jr 432 -41 12 0 3 11 0
3 Joey Logano 407 -66 12 1 6 9 0
4 Dale Earnhardt Jr 401 -72 12 1 7 8 1
5 Jimmie Johnson 393 -80 12 3 7 8 0
6 Brad Keselowski 381 -92 12 1 3 8 1
7 Matt Kenseth 372 -101 12 1 4 7 0
8 Jamie McMurray 353 -120 12 0 2 4 1
9 Jeff Gordon 346 -127 12 0 2 7 1
10 Kasey Kahne 345 -128 12 0 1 4 1
11 Ryan Newman 343 -130 12 0 4 8 0
12 Aric Almirola 339 -134 12 0 0 0 0
13 Paul Menard 336 -137 12 0 2 2 1
14 Kurt Busch 327 -146 9 1 3 5 0
15 Denny Hamlin 321 -152 12 1 3 5 1
16 Carl Edwards 312 -161 12 1 1 2 0
17 Clint Bowyer 296 -177 12 0 0 2 0
18 Danica Patrick 292 -181 12 0 0 2 0
19 Greg Biffle 284 -189 12 0 1 2 0
20 AJ Allmendinger 274 -199 12 0 0 2 2
21 Casey Mears 263 -210 12 0 0 1 1
22 Kyle Larson 256 -217 11 0 0 3 2
23 Austin Dillon 253 -220 12 0 0 1 2
24 David Ragan 238 -235 12 0 1 1 1
25 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 234 -239 12 0 1 1 1
26 Sam Hornish Jr 230 -243 12 0 0 1 0
27 David Gilliland 224 -249 12 0 0 0 0
28 Justin Allgaier 208 -265 12 0 0 1 3
29 Trevor Bayne 207 -266 12 0 0 0 1
30 Tony Stewart 202 -271 12 0 0 1 3
31 Cole Whitt 193 -280 12 0 0 0 1
32 Brett Moffitt 174 -299 10 0 0 1 0
33 Alex Bowman 150 -323 11 0 0 0 2
34 Michael Annett 149 -324 12 0 0 0 1
35 Josh Wise 125 -348 11 0 0 1 2
36 Matt DiBenedetto 119 -354 9 0 0 0 0
37 Michael McDowell 101 -372 7 0 0 0 0
38 Jeb Burton 53 -420 8 0 0 0 2
39 Alex Kennedy 48 -425 6 0 0 0 0
40 Bobby Labonte 38 -435 2 0 0 0 0
41 Kyle Busch 33 -440 1 0 0 0 0
42 Brian Vickers 32 -441 2 0 0 0 0
43 Michael Waltrip 26 -447 2 0 0 0 0
44 Reed Sorenson 22 -451 2 0 0 0 0
45 Mike Wallace 8 -465 1 0 0 0 0
46 Ron Hornaday Jr 2 -471 1 0 0 0 1
47 Ryan Blaney 0 -473 5 0 1 1 3
48 Brian Scott 0 -473 3 0 0 0 1
49 J.J. Yeley 0 -473 11 0 0 0 2
50 Regan Smith 0 -473 4 0 0 0 0
51 Chase Elliott 0 -473 3 0 0 0 0
52 Matt Crafton 0 -473 1 0 0 0 0
53 Johnny Sauter 0 -473 1 0 0 0 0
54 Chris Buescher 0 -473 5 0 0 0 0
55 Landon Cassill 0 -473 12 0 0 0 4
56 Ty Dillon 0 -473 2 0 0 0 0
57 Brendan Gaughan 0 -473 5 0 0 0 1
58 Mike Bliss 0 -473 6 0 0 0 0
59 Joe Nemechek 0 -473 1 0 0 0 0
60 Joey Gase 0 -473 2 0 0 0 1
61 Jeff Green 0 -473 1 0 0 0 0
62 Erik Jones 0 -473 1 0 0 0 0
63 Travis Kvapil 0 -473 0 0 0 0 0
64 Tanner Berryhill 0 -473 0 0 0 0 0
65 Justin Marks 0 -473 0 0 0 0 0

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