Edwards Wins Coca-Cola 600

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Carl Edwards won the Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday night.

Edwards won after stretching his fuel mileage to the limit late in the race.  Edwards said it was his crew chief Darian Grubb who got him to victory lane.

 

Photo courtesy Adam Neimeyer

“Darian does such a good job, and ever since Tony [Stewart] and I battled for that championship, I’ve wanted to work with him,” Edwards said.  “That’s what he does on the box, he takes a mediocre day like that and he puts us in a good position.”

Edwards, who moved from Roush-Fenway Racing to Joe Gibbs Racing in the offseason, picked up his first victory for JGR.  Edwards said he hopes this victory is the first of many.

“I was the slowest of the group tonight, and I just had the best guys on pit road,” Edwards said.  “Hopefully all that bad luck we’ve had is equaled out by the good luck today.”

Martin Truex Jr. had the strongest car of the night, leading 131 of 400 laps.  Truex had to pit late in the race for fuel, and ended up finishing fifth when the leaders didn’t run out of gas.  Truex said his team is on the right track and just needs some luck to get to victory lane.

“I don’t know what to do about fuel mileage races,” Truex said.  “I’ve never…come out on the right end of them.”

“We just got to keep plugging away and sooner or later we’re going to get a little bit of luck on our side.  It hurts to come home fifth and lead that many laps, but at the same time, it’s pretty awesome to run like that too.”

Unofficial results:

1. Carl Edwards

2. Greg Biffle

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4. Matt Kenseth

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Ryan Newman

7. Brad Keselowski

8. Denny Hamlin

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Kurt Busch

11. Kyle Busch

12. Kasey Kahne

13. Joey Logano

14. Paul Menard

15. Jeff Gordon

16. Austin Dillon

17. Aric Almirola

18. Chase Elliott

19. Jamie McMurray

20. Clint Bowyer

21. Tony Stewart

22. Danica Patrick

23. Casey Mears

24. Sam Hornish Jr.

25. Kyle Larson

26. Alex Bowman

27. Trevor Bayne

28. Cole Whitt

29. AJ Allmendinger

30. Michael McDowell

31. Brett Moffitt

32. Michael Annett

33. David Gilliland

34. Matt DiBenedetto

35. Josh Wise

36. Alex Kennedy

37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

38. J.J. Yeley

39. Landon Cassill

40. Jimmie Johnson

41. David Ragan

42. Ryan Blaney

43. Justin Allgaier

Photo courtesy Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Shoutout to Adam Niemeyer for the picture of Carl Edwards at the top of the post.  For more work from him, check out his blog.