Last Lap Bump and Run Nabs Edwards Win at Richmond - Speedway Digest

It all came down to the final lap with the checkered flag in sight for race leader Kyle Busch just a couple hundred yards away from the win Carl Edwards used an intimidator style bump and run on his team mate to knock him loose and grab a back to back win.

In an interesting side note to the bump and run coming to the checkered was the first time in Richmond history that a last lap pass would send a winner to victory lane in the 70 year history of the track.

“Kyle, at the same time, it looked like maybe his tires went away,” said Edwards. “Going down the back straight, I thought he’d spun his tires, they were hot. I knew I was going to run the bottom. Somehow he knew I was going to run the bottom, too. So he went there. He squared up the car, slowed down. He was pretty certain I was going to bump him. At that point it’s like, Man, we’re so much faster into the corner, I had to try something. So, yeah, awesome win for us.”

Edwards who had been strong for a good portion of the day leading 151 of the 400 laps around Richmond found the race slowed with multiple late race cautions for debris and spins including one for Stewart who was returning for the first time in 2016 with a flat tire.

Stewart however would go on to finish the day in a respectable 19^th place finish after stating to FOX in the pre-race show he would stay in the car for the entire Toyota Owners 400.

This place is so cool anyway. It’s always been my favorite race track. Like we predicted, a day race we’d be all over the race track. That’s what made it fun. The drivers got to dictate it today as far as…. You weren’t just stuck in one line. You had the ability to move around and change lines. We got in a spot there with a group of five cars racing for position once and it was fun because the five of us totally ran the track totally different. So, it made it a lot of fun. Said Stewart

Kurt Busch the defending race winner and team mate Kevin Harvick would take turns throughout the day leading for a combined 118 laps.

“We had a couple of really good runs there in the middle of the race. As we started adjusting on it, we never could get the rear drive to go along with the turns. It’s kind of a balance of where the turn is good enough and you can still manage the drive, but everybody tried everything we could. We threw a lot at it and just never could find that magic balance for the car that we had there in the middle of the race.” Said Harvick

The race was slowed for eight cautions and 23 lead changed amongst eight different drivers in the return to day racing at Richmond for the first time since 1997.

Top five finishers: Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick

Margin of Victory: .675 seconds

Unofficial Top Five Points: Carl Edwards 331, Kevin Harvick -7, Jimmie Johnson -21, Kyle Busch -29, Joey Logano -32

Next Race: GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway(Talladega AL) – 188 laps(500.08 miles)