Carl Edwards Overcomes Late-Race NASCAR Penalty To Finish Third At Dover

Carl Edwards was the class of the field for the first half of Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway and led 116 of the 400 laps overall. However, a mistake on pit road nearly cost him a shot at a solid finish.

Edwards was hit for speeding on the exit of pit road during a round of green flag pit stops just past halfway – his first infraction of the 2011 season. Perhaps coming at the worst time possible, Edwards dropped to 28th and a lap down to the leaders.

Knowing the mistake was his and his alone, Edwards said it made him feel “about as small as you can feel in a race car.”

Instead of hanging their heads and giving up on the day, Edwards and his Bob Osborne-led crew fought back to return to the lead lap and in contention for the win.

Earning the free pass under the eighth caution of the day, the No. 99 began to pick off cars lap after lap and was back in the top 10 with 50 laps to go. When two late-race cautions bunched the field up, he once again pounced on the opportunity and worked his way to third.

Chasing down the leaders to the checkered flag, Edwards ran out of time as he was forced to settle for a third-place finish.

“I definitely took myself out of position to fight for the win by (speeding on pit road),” he said. “So that’s something that painful, and I’m going to think about it. I’m going to think about it all the way home. I’m going to lay in bed and my wife’s going to yell at me and tell me to get over it. That’s just how it goes. That’s how racing is.”

Edwards was disappointed but proud of his team for not giving up after his mistake.

Still frustrated by the error, he reflected on a passage he read about racing which said, “You don’t succeed by being the guy that does everything perfect; you succeed by being the guy that minimizes mistakes.”

“Everyone is going to make mistakes and they are very difficult to get over,” he said.

The comeback not only salvaged a good day, but also kept Edwards from suffering a major fall in the Chase standings. Instead, the third-place run moved Edwards into a tie with Kevin Harvick for the Chase lead after three races.