Edwards Wins Wet AAA Texas 500

Originally written for CLNS Radio

Carl Edwards won the AAA Texas 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday night after rain ended the race with 40 laps to go.

Edwards raced Martin Truex Jr. over the final 100 laps for the lead, but it wasn’t until the final pit stop that Edwards was able to get out front.  Edwards’ team got him the lead, and he ran away from Truex and Joey Logano until the rain came.

 

Sarah Crabill (Getty Images)

Edwards said his team’s fast pit stop got him the victory.

“[Crew chief] Dave Rogers and the guys, they got me off pit road first and that’s what won it for us,” Edwards said.  “I’ve got an amazing group of guys; they work so well together.  My pit crew has worked really hard this year.”

Rain delayed the start of the race by almost five hours, changing it from a day race to a night race that promised to have major Chase implications.  Edwards came into the race needing a victory after finishing 36th at Martinsville one week ago.

“This was a test; we came in and knew what we had to do, and we performed the way we needed to,” Edwards said.  “I really believe we can do that at Homestead.”

“We’ve got a shot at the championship, and that’s all we wanted this year.nnI can’t wait to go to Homestead; it’s going to be a blast.”

Logano finished second after leading 178 of 293 laps.  Logano said the handle on his car went away in the middle of the race, but his team continued to work hard to give him a shot at the victory over the final run.

“We had a good restart there at the end, and started running down the 19 [of Edwards] that last two or three laps, and I thought we could get…back out front,” Logano said.  “It’d have been interesting to see if we’d gotten another 10 to 15 laps...but it is what it is.”

Unofficial results:

1. Carl Edwards

2. Joey Logano

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Chase Elliott

5. Kyle Busch

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Matt Kenseth

8. Kasey Kahne

9. Denny Hamlin

10. Ryan Newman

11. Jimmie Johnson

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Alex Bowman

14. Brad Keselowski

15. Kyle Larson

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. Greg Biffle

19. Jamie McMurray

20. Kurt Busch

21. Chris Buescher

22. Aric Almirola

23. Michael McDowell

24. Danica Patrick

25. Clint Bowyer

26. Regan Smith

27. Brian Scott

28. Paul Menard

29. Landon Cassill

30. Trevor Bayne

31. Tony Stewart

32. Michael Annett

33. David Ragan

34. Jeffrey Earnhardt

35. Reed Sorenson

36. Joey Gase

37. Austin Dillon

38. Ryan Ellis

39. Casey Mears

40. Josh Wise

Jerry Markland (Getty Images)

Weekly Pull List: 10/2/2016

All the comics available this week can be found on ComicList, and any comic book news is on CBR.

Image
The Walking Dead #160

Marvel
Deadpool and the Mercs for Money #5
Death of X #3
Foolkiller #1
Spider-Man 2099 #17
Spider-Woman #13
Spidey #12

Johnson Wins at Martinsville, Clinches Championship Spot

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Jimmie Johnson won the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 from Martinsville Speedway on Sunday to lock himself into the Championship Round of the Chase.

Johnson led 92 laps on his way to his ninth-career victory at Martinsville.  On the final restart, Johnson had to race Denny Hamlin for the lead, who is one of the best when it comes to racing at Martinsville.  Once Johnson got around Hamlin, he pulled away over the final 30 laps.

 

Robert Laberge (Getty Images)

Johnson said the way the race played out suited his car’s setup.

“Coming into this race, there are so many challenges at this track,” Johnson said.  “Having those long runs really suit my style and my car.”

Johnson will now head to Homestead-Miami Speedway in three weeks to fight for his record-tying seventh Championship.  If Johnson is the top-finishing Chase driver at Homestead, he will tie Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the only drivers to win seven championships.  Johnson said he was trying not to think about that scenario for as long as he could.

“I’ve been trying to ignore this conversation about seven, but now I can’t,” Johnson said.  “Probably going to lie…and say I’m not going to think about it at all, but it’s inevitable.”

“We’re going to enjoy this and savor this, and try to get our ducks in a row for Homestead.”

Hamlin finished third after racing Johnson hard after the final restart.  Martinsville is Hamlin’s best track, and he said a change they made under the final caution cost them a chance at the win.

“We thought we were going to come back out under green flag conditions, and we made an adjustment for that and it was just not good,” Hamlin said.  “A race-winning car at times, but definitely not at the end.”

Hamlin raced hard with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch over the final run, which allowed Johnson and Brad Keselowski to pull away. Hamlin said they will have to fight for every position in the next few weeks.

“Well, you try to do everything you can to hold them off, but you’ve got to be realistic too,” Hamlin said.  

Busch was less optimistic following the race, and said he was frustrated with the way his teammates raced.

“We work so good together we gave the 48 [of Johnson] a win,” Busch said.

Unofficial results:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Matt Kenseth

5. Kyle Busch

6. Jeff Gordon

7. Martin Truex Jr.

8. Jamie McMurray

9. Joey Logano

10. AJ Allmendinger

11. Kasey Kahne

12. Chase Elliott

13. Greg Biffle

14. Kyle Larson

15. Aric Almirola

16. Ryan Newman

17. Austin Dillon

18. Michael McDowell

19. Ryan Blaney

20. Kevin Harvick

21. Casey Mears

22. Kurt Busch

23. Trevor Bayne

24. Danica Patrick

25. Paul Menard

26. Tony Stewart

27. Chris Buescher

28. Clint Bowyer

29. Landon Cassill

30. Regan Smith

31. Dylan Lupton

32. Matt DiBenedetto

33. Jeffrey Earnhardt

34. Brian Scott

35. Michael Annett

36. Carl Edwards

37. David Ragan

38. Reed Sorenson

39. Gray Gaulding

40. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Chris Trotman (Getty Images)

Weekly Pull List: 10/26/2016

All the comics available this week can be found on ComicList, and any comic book news can be found on CBR.

BOOM! Studios
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers #8

Image
Chew #59
Saga #39

Marvel
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #10
Civil War II #6
Deadpool #21
Extraordinary X-Men #15
Guardians of the Galaxy #13
Marvel Tsum Tsum #3
Punisher Annual #1
Spider-Man Deadpool #10
Star Wars #24
Star Wars: Poe Dameron #7
Venom Space Knight #13

Austin Dillon Falls One Point Short of Next Chase Round

Austin Dillon finished ninth on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, but it wasn’t enough to move on to the next round of the Chase.

Dillon tied Denny Hamlin for the final spot in the Chase, but Hamlin had the tiebreaker over Dillon.  The tiebreaker was a driver’s best finish in the round, and Hamlin finished third on Sunday, compared to Dillon’s sixth-place finish last weekend at Kansas.

Dillon said he and his team did everything they could to make the next round.

Getty Images

“We did everything we could,” Dillon said.  “Just didn’t get enough…just one spot at the line.”

Dillon had help from his teammates Paul Menard and Ryan Newman over the closing laps, but the field bottled up at the end and Dillon had nowhere to go.

“I’ve got to thank my teammates, they helped me a lot there at the end trying to help me as much as they could,” Dillon said.  “Old girl just didn’t have enough to get the 43 [of Aric Almirola].”

Dillon surprised many by making the second round of the Chase, and he would have had a strong round if not for a late wreck in the opening race in Charlotte.  Dillon finished 32nd at Charlotte, which magnified the fact that he only needed one more spot to make the next round.  

Dillon said missing the third round on a tiebreaker made it tougher to handle.

“Just disappointed when you tie.  I don’t know, tiebreaker went to [Hamlin].”

Dillon, who is in the midst of his best career season at the Sprint Cup level, said he believes his team will continue to build on their momentum going into the final four races and into 2017.

“We’re fighters, our whole team is.  Proud of my American Ethanol guys…we’ll be back stronger than ever next year.”