Edwards dominates Nashville Nationwide Race
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The Sprint Cup Series has the weekend off, not that it mattered to Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski.
The duo led a combined 213 of 225 laps with Edwards rallying from a mid-race speeding penalty to win the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.
After a debris caution on lap 82, Edwards was caught speeding entering the pits and was forced to restart in 14th. It would take him just 37 laps to regain the lead and win his fourth Nationwide race of 2011.
“I can’t believe I was leading and I sped on pit road,” Edwards said. “That was really, really not smart. But in the end it made our night more fun. I probably learned more.”
Keselowski appeared to have the best shot at besting Edwards with the two at one point running one/two nearly seven seconds ahead of everyone else. He felt his engine falter on lap 117 and nursed his Dodge to a 12-place finish.
It was that problem for Keselowski that allowed Edwards to win the race virtually uncontested over teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Dillon, Justin Allgaier, and Aric Almirola completed the top five.
Championship leader Elliott Sadler broke an axle leaving the pits on lap 178 and ended up finishing 30th. He fell to third in the standings 14 points behind Reed Sorenson, who overcame voltage issues to finish eighth. Stenhouse moved to second in the standing just four points back.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series next stops at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis on July 30th for the Kroger 300.
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