It was a weekend full of repeats at Texas Motor Speedway as Ron Hornaday Jr., Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards all made their second trip to TMS’ Victory Lane for the year.
Hornaday, who was the favorite to win, experienced misfortune early on, as the caution came out while he was pitting. He regained the lead and made his way to the front of the pack, passing leader Busch, to captured the win. He is now only six points out of the lead in the Craftsman’s truck series point standings.
The Nationwide race, like the truck race, was dominated by Busch. After starting fourth, Busch quickly made his way to the front taking the lead from Kevin Harvick, who had started second. This time however, unlike the truck race the night before, Busch was able to keep the lead and soared to his 21st Nationwide win and his 10th of the season. He is now tied with former Nationwide champion, Sam Ard, for all-time wins in a single season. During the post-race interview, Busch proclaimed he was going to donate his winnings, $100,000, to Ard, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
As for the Nationwide point standings, Clint Bowyer still holds the lead but Edwards, reigning Nationwide (then Busch) champ, is only 91 points behind.
Edwards, who finished second the night before, started 16th in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race but after only 51 laps he was at the front of the pack. The lead switched a few times between Edwards and his teammates Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle, during the last half of the race, but it was Edwards who prevailed.
Edwards’ crew chief, Bob Osborne, made a call that may not have looked like the best decision during the last pit stop on lap-265. Osborne called for four times and fuel when others called for two tires and fuel.
Restarting seventh, Edwards did not look as if he’d be the winner, but as each driver ahead of him (and several behind him) came in to pit under green for gas with less than 10 laps to go he stayed on the track. As he took his 15th career Sprint Cup victory, it was unbelievable that Edwards had won considering he was told he was half a lap short and then four laps short and needed to save fuel. Somehow he finished first, eight seconds ahead of second-place, Jeff Gordon, and was even able to do a few burnouts after taking the checkered flag.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson was not as “lucky” as he was the weekend before in Atlanta. After starting seventh, he was passed by leader, Edwards, early on due to car handling problems. He was never able to regain the lap but did make his way through the field and finished 15th. As for his points lead, it was cut to 106 points — too small of a lead to be considered “in the bag.”
It looks as if these next two races — the final two of the season — for all three series will be very interesting. Anything can, and quite possibly, will happen. And although it may looks as if Johnson will make it three-in-a-row, nothing is definite, until the final checkered flag waves at Homestead-Miami Speeway Nov. 16.
Don’t miss:
From Phoenix
- Sprint Cup qualifying, Friday at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2
- Lucas Oil 150 (Craftsman’s truck race), Friday night at 7:30 on SPEED
- Hefty Odor Block 200 (Nationwide race), Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN2
- Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (Sprint Cup race), Sunday at 3 p.m. on ABC
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