Junior bumps Edwards for Busch Series victoryBy Mike Harris, The Associated Press
August 19, 2006
07:33 PM EDT (23:33 GMT)
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped Carl Edwards out of the way on a restart in overtime and grabbed a contentious victory Saturday in the Busch Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Edwards made a timely three-wide pass on Lap 116, taking the lead from Robby Gordon by a nose moments before a spin by Kurt Busch brought out a caution flag.
The race, scheduled to go 125 laps on the 2-mile oval, restarted on Lap 121 with Gordon -- driving a Chevrolet for Earnhardt's Busch team -- and Earnhardt single-file behind the leader. They stayed that way, and Edwards easily held off the challengers until another yellow flag came out when Todd Kluever stopped on Lap 123.
NASCAR cleared the track and set up a two-lap, green-white-checkered flag shootout that began on Lap 127.
Gordon immediately drove to the inside of Edwards, and Earnhardt moved in behind the leader. As the trio drove into the second turn, Edwards appeared to break loose and start to slide up toward the wall.
Earnhardt slammed into the rear end of Edwards' No. 60 Ford, sending him spinning down the track and nearly taking Gordon with him. That brought out the ninth and final caution of the day, freezing the field and giving two-time Busch champion Earnhardt his second Busch win in four starts this season and the 22nd of his career.
It was the 23rd win by a Nextel Cup regular in 25 Busch races this season.
Casey Mears managed to just get past Gordon, making his first start for Earnhardt's team, for second place. The furious Edwards finished 23rd.
Edwards first drove onto pit road and momentarily parked in Earnhardt's pit. Then he drove back onto the track as the field drove slowly by behind the pace car, banging hard into the side of Earnhardt's No. 8 Chevrolet.
"I didn't mean to spin him out. I don't go around wrecking people," Earnhardt said. "I wouldn't have waited two years to get back at him for wrecking me in Atlanta in 2004 pretty much the same way.
"We got a run off that corner, and Carl just got sideways and he wasn't in the gas. I guess he was pretty mad at me, but there wasn't much I could do."
Earnhardt, the most popular driver in NASCAR, was loudly booed by the crowd when replays showed on the big screens as he got to Victory Lane.
Asked if he saw Edwards coming off pit road, Earnhardt shook his head and said, "I had my hand out the window. He could have taken my hand off. But he didn't. Pretty stupid. That was just rude."
Edwards, who was called to the NASCAR hauler after the race, appeared to have cooled down considerably after getting out of his car.
"He just wrecked me off [Turn] 2," Edwards said. "I just wanted to make sure he knew I was mad that he wrecked me. It's racing."
Matt Kenseth finished fourth, followed by Mark Martin, who set a Busch record with his 29th career pole earlier Saturday.
Denny Hamlin was sixth, with Reed Sorenson seventh and series leader Kevin Harvick eighth. Harvick leads runner-up Hamlin in the standings by a monstrous 484 points.
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/bg/08/19/michigan.ap/index.html
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