Carl Edwards lead 276 laps to pick up his first win of the 2016 season and 4th win at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Sunday’s Food City 500. Starting from the pole, Edwards maintained good track position throughout the race, piloting his #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory on a day that saw several drivers experience trouble at the always difficult half-mile speedway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. rebounded from falling two-laps down at the start of the race to finish second. At the drop of the green flag, Earnhardt Jr.’s stuck throttle safety system activated causing him to retreat to pit road on the first lap to reset the ECU. Kurt Busch led 41 laps and was in position to challenge Edwards on the final restart with five laps to go, but settled for third. Rookie sensation Chase Elliott and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top five. Bayne, who started in tenth, fell back to twenty-eighth but battled back to score his first top-five finish in 99 races when he won the Daytona 500 in 2011. Edwards was able to escape tire trouble that plagued his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin. Busch, who was looking for his third win in a row, finished a disappointing thirty-eighth tallying his first DNF of the season after making contact with the wall for the third time on lap 258.
With the win, Edwards assures himself of a spot in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and moved into second place, one-point behind Kevin Harvick in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Drivers Point Standings. Edwards’ victory made it four-in-a-row for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The race included sixteen lead changes among seven drivers. There were fifteen cautions for 102 laps, but no incident involving more than three drivers.
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– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, NC
Rank Driver (wins) Points Behind +/-
1 Kevin Harvick (1) 287 LEADER +2
2 Carl Edwards (1) 286 -1 +2
3 Jimmie Johnson (2) 271 -16 -1
4 Joey Logano 266 -21 +1
5 Kyle Busch (2) 262 -25 -4
6 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 250 -37 0
7 Kurt Busch 247 -40 0
8 Brad Keselowski (1) 224 -63 +1
9 Denny Hamlin (1) 222 -65 -1
10 Martin Truex, Jr. 214 -73 +1
