Carl Edwards loses championship with aggressive late-race block

Albeit a risky move, it was one Carl Edwards had to make if he wanted to preserve his title hopes as the laps neared single digits in Sunday’s championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

So Edwards attempted to throw a big block on Joey Logano (also title-eligible), who was trying to pass to Edwards’ inside on a restart with 10 laps remaining. But Edwards mistakenly thought he was clear of Logano, and when Edwards veered left he clipped Logano’s front-end and sent himself crashing into the inside wall then slid back into traffic.

In the aftermath, a chain-reaction crash ensued including Martin Truex Jr., whose car erupted into flames that engulfed the front of the No. 78 Toyota. Others collected included Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne, who slammed into Edwards after he had careered into the outside Turn 1 wall.

No drivers involved were injured. NASCAR stopped the race for 30 minutes to clean up the track.

“Late in the race, (Logano) was so strong for the first five laps,” Edwards said. “If he got in front of me I really believe the race was over, so that’s why I was so aggressive.

“Obviously, it was too aggressive, but as I was going down there I thought I could feel him a little bit, and I thought I’d be able to turn right at the last minute. I thought I’d be able to get out in that situation if I needed to, and I just couldn’t.”

Logano’s car also sustained damage, though to a lesser degree, and required a quick pit stop to make repairs. The Team Penske driver didn’t begrudge Edwards for his aggressive tactic, explaining that with a championship on the line such behavior is deemed acceptable.

Jimmie Johnson would go on to win the Ford Ecoboost 400 to claim his seventh Sprint Cup championship. Kyle Larson finished second, with Kevin Harvick third and Logano fourth.

“I understand why he had to throw the block, and he understands why I had to make the move, because that was for the win,” Logano said. “That was the only shot that I had. That was for the race win. It’s 10 to go; what do you expect? It’s for a championship.”

Stunned by the dramatic turn of events that had just unfolded and with a championship he had seemingly within his grasp now lost, Edwards stood on the track in apparent disbelief. He then did something unusual, and began walking to pit road instead of taking the required ride to the infield care center for a medical evaluation.

“I had a lot of thoughts on that walk,” Edwards said. “It’s hard. You put so much into this and so many people push so hard and you don’t get opportunities like this very often, so I just hope that pretty quickly I can get over the frustration and look at this for what it is. It was a great opportunity, and really, up until the end, it was a lot of fun.”

Where Edwards walked was directly to Logano’s pit stall where he explained there were no hard feelings and he did not feel Logano had done something deliberate to take him out. From Edwards’ viewpoint, it was merely two title contenders racing hard and he thought it was a message Logano and the No. 22 team needed to hear directly.

“There’s so much on the line,” Edwards said. “I just wanted to make sure he knew that was just racing in my opinion, and that’s hard racing, and I wished them luck.”