Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards slides through grass to finish fourth at Daytona
Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards finished fourth in Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. // Victor Newman, NASCAR Scene
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards took a unique route to his fourth-place finish in the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night.
Because of a crash at the front of the field coming to the checkered flag, Edwards drove his No. 99 Ford through the grass to finish the race.
“Man, that was a wild finish,” Edwards said. “I saw the 18 car [of Kyle Busch] turn right, the right-side tires lifted off the ground and he hit the fence, and I thought, ‘Ah, man.’ I just yanked the wheel left and drove the grass and hoped I didn’t hit him.
“But it was a crazy, crazy finish. I thought I wanted to be up there racing with those guys, then I saw that and I was just fine with where I was at.”
Edwards is used to wild finishes at restrictor-plate tracks, for he was involved in the last-lap wreck at Talladega Superspeedway in April when his car went airborne after contact with Brad Keselowski as the two raced toward the finish line.
Edwards’ car slammed the retaining fence, and Edwards ended up running across the finish line after crawling out of his crippled car.
He was vocal about restrictor-plate racing after Talladega, hoping things would be changed at plate tracks. After the Daytona race, he was more concerned about the health of Busch.
“I was really concerned about Kyle,” Edwards said. “I saw the right side of his car lift off the ground, and he hit the fence. Man, that’s a hard hit. But I guess it’s exciting. The fans were all pumped up about it, but I was real nervous for him. I’m just glad we got through there and nobody hit him – I hope nobody hit him a second time. It was just a wild event.”
Edwards was trying to help teammate Matt Kenseth on the final restart with four laps to go, but an unexpected push from Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya forced Edwards to abandon Kenseth.
“He was having trouble getting into fourth gear, so I just pushed him as long as I could, and then Montoya got a huge run and slammed me and I had to go around Matt.,” Edwards said. “We just did everything we could to make sure we both got a good finish.”
