autoevolution
 

Edwards Gambles to Texas Win

Carl Edwards gambled his way through the Dickies 500 this Sunday and managed to squeeze his 8th win of the season ahead of Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon. Both drivers ran the last few laps at the Texas Motor Speedway on fuel mileage gamble and it payed off at the finish line.

Nevertheless, Edwards was dominant in the race from its very beginning and led the field for most of its first half, before dropping into 5th when pitting for all tires and fuel on the last caution of the day. With three of his frontrunners pitting for two tires with 13 laps to go, Edwards got back into the lead and entered the last ten laps hoping to save enough fuel to make it to the finish line.

Second placed Dale Earnhardt Jr. and teammate Jeff Gordon did the same in the closing laps of the race, choosing to gamble their way through the finish line on short fuel mileage. However, only the latter succeeded in doing so, while Earnhardt ran out of fuel with 5 laps to go. Further in the back, Jamie McMurray managed to come strong and make up for the lost positions after his pit stop on lap 321 and came in 3rd overall.

“Fuel mileage was big and my Ford Fusion gets great fuel mileage, I can tell you that. This is a fun place. I don't know what to say. My guys did a great job. We took off after a while. We made probably the wrong call to take four tires, but Bob came up with a way to win that thing anyway, that was great. It's unreal. It's a great day,” admitted Edwards at the end of the race.

Gordon also admitted that, hadn't it been for the fuel mileage gamble in the end, he would have most likely finished the race way in the back field: “The team never gave up. Steve Letarte made a great call there. It kind of fell our way. But he still thought about if it went all the way on fuel, and that's what it takes to come home second on a day like today. We were a lap short.

Championship leader Jimmie Johnson had a terrible day in Texas on Sunday, struggling off the pace and crossing the finish line back in 15th place. His Chase lead was therefore reduced to only 106 points with two more races remaining in the season.

“First three runs we were just terrible. After that we got the car better and I ran in the top four, top six throughout the rest of the race, but just never had a chance to get a lap back. We were close a couple times, maybe a car or two away. We just got off at the start of the race, with all the green flag running, we just couldn't get back on the lead lap. But we made the car better and ran well. Just don't have the finish to show for it,” concluded Johnson.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories