DARLINGTON, S.C. - Carl Edwards scored his first-career Darlington Raceway victory with a win in Sunday night’s Bojangles Southern 500 in the return of the traditional Labor Day classic.
Edwards fought his way back to the lead after falling two laps down early in the race and took over the top spot for the final time following a round of pit stops with eight laps to go, holding off Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski to the finish for second victory of the season.
Keselowski finished second, followed by Hamlin, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick.
Edwards climbed two spots in the points standings to 12th, but more importantly moved into a tie for third in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings.
“I feel like my pit crew ought to be sitting up here doing interviews. They won that race for us,” said Edwards. “It was just amazing to come down third and to go out leading the race. Nobody gave up tonight. We were two laps down. We fought back hard. It’s a huge win for us. Southern 500, it’s obviously one of the most sought-after wins in the world of motorsports.”
The race marked the return of the Southern 500 to Labor Day weekend after a 12-year absence. NASCAR took the opportunity to celebrate the occasion with throwback paint schemes, retro crew uniforms, and reunions of championship-winning drivers and crews from races past.
Sunday’s night’s race also featured the return of the new “low downforce” aerodynamic package that NASCAR first used at Kentucky back in July. NASCAR had hoped the aero changes, coupled with a new tire compound made specifically for this event, would lead to more tire wear, harder to handle cars and more passing.
What they got was exactly what they were hoping for.
With the cars running on the ragged edge lap after lap, there was plenty of passing, including 24 lead changes – but Darlington’s notorious abrasive racing surface led most teams to adopt a feast or famine pit strategy, with many of the top competitors opting to pit for tires at every opportunity.
And they had plenty of opportunities – with a track-record 18 cautions flags waving during the event. As a result, some teams had already cycled through all 12 of their allotted sets of tires before the final caution flag on lap 356.
Edwards was one of the first drivers to fall victim to the new softer tire after missing out on an early pit opportunity on lap 61. Edwards’ tires quickly gave out, forcing him to lose track position while pitting under green, eventually going two laps down following a speeding penalty on pit road.
Edwards and his crew rallied, taking a wave around on lap 168 and picking up a free pass on lap 208 to get back on the lead lap.
Up front, Keselowski had the car to beat, starting from the pole position and leading a race-high 196 laps in a throwback Miller paint scheme honoring Bobby Allison’s 1983 race-winning car.
For much of the second half of the race, Keselowski squared off for the lead against Harvick, Hamlin and his teammate Logano before beating the field off pit road following a caution flag with 55 laps to go.
Keselowski would lead the next 41 laps while fending off challenges from Harvick while Edwards climbed his way up from fifth place.
With 34 laps to go, Edwards pulled a slide job on Harvick to take second and started closing on Keselowski, but the tires continued to fall off and Edwards fell back to third behind Harvick.
Jeb Burton’s spin on lap 356 brought out the caution for the final time and opened the door for Edwards, who beat Hamlin and Keselowski off pit road to reclaim the top spot.
On the restart, Hamlin looked to the inside for the lead but settled into second ahead of Keselowski as Edwards pulled away, opening up a half-straight lead to the finish.
Keselowski would edge out Hamlin for the second spot to post his career-best Darlington finish. He was among many drivers who had high praise for the new aero package NASCAR brought to Darlington.
“I remember when I was a kid and my dad wanted to teach me how to drive a car, and he gave me a stick shift,” said Keselowski. “You practice and you learn and you learn how to drive it and you stall it out all the time and then eventually you kind of start to figure it out and you stop stalling it so much and you get into a pattern and you don’t stall it out anymore. The race reminded me a lot of that because the cars, just five or six years ago when I entered Sprint Cup, were extremely difficult to drive, much like a stick shift when you’re first learning how to drive.
“So we asked NASCAR to, make these cars harder to drive, give us our, metaphorically speaking, stick shift back, and they did. It’s kind of that same feeling. Kind of metaphorically speaking I think there was a lot of people that stalled it out today.”
Edwards, too, felt the changes were a step in the right direction for NASCAR.
“I loved it – this is as good as it gets,” said Edwards. “I hope they really keep going this direction. If we keep going this direction and taking the downforce away and taking aero influence away, you’re going to have to step up your game as a driver. You really have to. You’ve got to dig deep. You’ve got to manage the tires. You’ve got to work better with your crew chief. It really makes it a lot of fun. That’s the stuff that to me that stock car racing is about. That’s what NASCAR is about, and I truly applaud NASCAR for running this package and trying this and doing it, and hopefully they like it as much as we do.”
Kurt Busch finished sixth just ahead of his brother Kyle, who clinched a spot in the top-30 in points to earn a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup field. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Larson finished out the top 10.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC
Bojangles’ Southern 500 – Sept. 6, 2015
1. (13) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 367, $279625.
2. (1) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 367, $252981.
3. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 367, $180915.
4. (4) Joey Logano, Ford, 367, $182073.
5. (3) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 367, $175190.
6. (2) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 367, $133365.
7. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 367, $149731.
8. (26) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 367, $120165.
9. (7) Martin Truex, Jr., Chevrolet, 367, $129660.
10. (16) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 367, $128873.
11. (11) Aric Almirola, Ford, 367, $137141.
12. (15) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 367, $112935.
13. (23) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 367, $130635.
14. (20) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 367, $127726.
15. (17) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 367, $125249.
16. (5) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 367, $140571.
17. (28) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 367, $129493.
18. (24) Greg Biffle, Ford, 367, $126018.
19. (19) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 367, $137996.
20. (31) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 367, $93710.
21. (14) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 367, $134996.
22. (29) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 367, $128846.
23. (34) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 367, $124018.
24. (35) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 367, $106818.
25. (25) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 367, $105613.
26. (12) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 367, $97255.
27. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 367, $108213.
28. (33) Sam Hornish, Jr., Ford, 367, $114200.
29. (32) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 366, $105202.
30. (9) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 366, $85955.
31. (41) Jeb Burton #, Toyota, 364, $86755.
32. (42) Mike Bliss(i), Chevrolet, 363, $84055.
33. (27) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 354, $91855.
34. (36) J.J. Yeley(i), Toyota, 348, $83655.
35. (18) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 342, $128035.
36. (40) Brett Moffitt #, Ford, 332, $83360.
37. (43) T.J. Bell, Ford, 325, $83138.
38. (8) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 313, $86348.
39. (39) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 300, $74285.
40. (21) David Ragan, Toyota, Accident, 275, $97499.
41. (22) Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 227, $66285.
42. (30) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, Accident, 190, $70285.
43. (37) Cole Whitt, Ford, Accident, 5, $58785.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 111.993 mph.
Time of Race: 04 Hrs, 28 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.902 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 18 for 89 laps.
Lead Changes: 24 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Keselowski 1-62; C. Edwards 63-65; K. Kahne 66-67; D. Hamlin 68-109; K. Harvick 110; D. Hamlin 111-117; B. Keselowski 118-137; K. Harvick 138-139; B. Keselowski 140-193; Kurt Busch 194; B. Keselowski 195-202; Kurt Busch 203-208; K. Larson 209-211; T. Stewart 212-221; D. Hamlin 222-229; K. Harvick 230-247; J. Logano 248-266; Kyle Busch 267-269; J. Logano 270-279; K. Harvick 280-302; D. Gilliland 303; B. Keselowski 304-344; C. Edwards 345; B. Keselowski 346-356; C. Edwards 357-367.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): B. Keselowski 6 times for 196 laps; D. Hamlin 3 times for 57 laps; K. Harvick 4 times for 44 laps; J. Logano 2 times for 29 laps; C. Edwards 3 times for 15 laps; T. Stewart 1 time for 10 laps; Kurt Busch 2 times for 7 laps; K. Larson 1 time for 3 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 3 laps; K. Kahne 1 time for 2 laps; D. Gilliland 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 16 in Points: K. Harvick – 948; J. Logano – 906; D. Earnhardt Jr. – 855; B. Keselowski – 837; J. Johnson – 817; M. Truex Jr. – 806; M. Kenseth – 776; D. Hamlin – 754; Kurt Busch – 752; J. Mcmurray – 726; R. Newman – 714; C. Edwards – 713; J. Gordon – 700; P. Menard – 692; C. Bowyer – 682; A. Almirola – 653.
