Edwards the Hometown Victor at Gateway

Tim Zaegel — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:13:51 +0000

Image details: Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 served by picapp.com

Even with the Sprint Cup Series taking the week off, it was still a busy weekend for Missouri native, Carl Edwards …. particularly because he decided to commit to a three-day bicycle trip from his hometown of Columbia, MO to the track that lies in Madison, IL – just outside of the St. Louis metro-area.

Edwards made the trip and got to the track in time to qualify third for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway, and then passed Jason Leffler with 48 laps remaining en route to picking up the win Saturday night. The win gave Edwards his second Nationwide Series win of the season, and the second of his career at Gateway.

Driving the dominant no. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in just his fifth NNS start, Joey Logano started the race fourth and finished second, as he was unable to track down Edwards in the closing laps of the race. Jason Keller, Jason Leffler, and Brad Keselowski completed the top-five finishers, with rookie driver, Landon Cassill, running in 6th.

An incident involving David Reutimann and Brad Keselowski brought out the final caution of the day. The restart came on lap 146 with Edwards running third behined Jason Leffler and eventual 7th place finisher, James Buescher. The top two cars, however, took only two tires under the caution period, with Edwards taking four, which ultimately made all the difference in the world, passing Leffler for the lead just six laps later.

Earlier on a lap 116 restart, Landon Cassill got into the back of Scott Wimmer, setting off a chain reaction that eliminated the cars of Mike Bliss, Steve Wallace, and defending race winner, Reed Sorenson. Polesitter, Jamie McMurray, was in the lead at the time, but later retired with engine problems after lap 152.

Points leader, Clint Bowyer, finished 8th; David Ragan was 10th; and Marcos Ambrose ran in 15th. The hometown favorites of Mike, Kenny, and Steve Wallace finished 11th, 18th, and 26th respectively. Kenny was the only one of the three to lead any laps during the race.

Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski maintained the top two spots in the Nationwide standings, while Carl Edwards jumped up a spot to #3, where he now sits 201 points out of first.

Complete Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Results.

Nationwide Series Standings (from nascar.com):

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	POLES	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10
1	–	Clint Bowyer	3107	Leader	21	0	1	8	18
2	–	Brad Keselowski	2937	-170	21	1	1	8	13
3	+1	Carl Edwards	2906	-201	21	2	2	9	11
4	-1	David Reutimann	2841	-266	21	1	0	7	11
5	+1	David Ragan	2747	-360	21	0	0	4	13
6	+1	Mike Bliss	2673	-434	21	0	0	1	10
7	-2	Kyle Busch	2633	-474	19	2	5	10	10
8	–	Mike Wallace	2506	-601	21	0	0	1	6
9	–	David Stremme	2463	-644	20	0	0	4	11
10	–	Jason Keller	2443	-664	21	0	0	1	4
11	–	Jason Leffler	2376	-731	21	0	0	2	7
12	+1	Marcos Ambrose	2284	-823	21	0	0	1	3
13	-1	Steve Wallace	2255	-852	21	0	0	2	3
14	–	Kelly Bires	2222	-885	21	0	0	1	2
15	–	Bobby Hamilton Jr.	2203	-904	20	0	0	1	2
16	+1	Brad Coleman	1943	-1164	21	0	0	0	1
17	+1	Kenny Wallace	1906	-1201	20	0	0	0	0
18	-2	Kevin Harvick	1890	-1217	14	0	0	6	7
19	–	Scott Wimmer	1803	-1304	13	0	1	2	8
20	–	Denny Hamlin	1695	-1412	11	0	3	7	9

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Edwards the Hometown Victor at Gateway

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Edwards the Hometown Victor at Gateway