DARLINGTON, S.C. — Recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Matt Hazlett/Getty Images North America photo —
On one of NASCAR’s most grueling nights, with a rules package that put racing back in the drivers’ hands and throwback schemes that transported onlookers back to NASCAR’s golden age, one of the toughest drivers in motorsports tasted victory in one of its most historic races.
Columbia, Missouri’s Carl Edwards came back from a flat tire at lap 90, which dropped him two laps down to the leaders, to take the lead on the final round of pit stops with 10 laps to go — holding off Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and teammate Denny Hamlin to score his first career Bojangles’ Southern 500 victory in the historic race’s 66th running.
The win was the milestone 25th of Edwards’ NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career and his second of the season, as well as the 75th Cup win for Toyota as a manufacturer since entering NSCS competition in 2007.
“Our guys never quit,” Edwards said of his Joe Gibbs Racing team, which rallied their driver out of his early-race hole en route to his second crown jewel victory of the 2015 season. “JGR is unbelievable. These guys are working so hard and I feel so lucky to be a part of it. We started this fourth team (at JGR) and people believed in us. I can’t thank them enough for being a part of this, to win at Darlington is just amazing and the racing tonight was unbelievable.”
“I don’t think I can get in trouble for saying how much I liked it,” added Edwards of NASCAR’s low-downforce aero package, which produced massively entertaining racing inside the final third of the race, “but, man, I loved it. This is as good as it gets. This is what it’s about. We’re sliding cars, the tires are falling off. This is the style of racing that I love. If there’s any chance we can run this in the Chase, I hope we can do it. Just an awesome day.”
(Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images North America photo)
Edwards was one of the few drivers all night long to keep the right side of his car clean, not earning a fabled ‘Darlington Stripe’ like many of his competitors throughout the night.
“That was one of the missions coming into the night, to keep the car clean,” Edwards explained. “Darian [Grubb, crew chief] reminded me of that just before the green flag tonight, and somehow, we managed to pull it off.”
Polesitter Keselowski jumped out to the early lead as his front row partner, Kurt Busch, dropped back to fourth, but a caution on lap seven for an incident involving Chase Elliott and Cole Whitt on the backstretch slowed the pace and restacked the field. On the ensuing restart at lap 14, Busch got a much more solid jump and settled comfortably in behind Keselowski during an early green-flag run.
Tires and attrition became a factor quickly in the grueling race, as Matt Kenseth earned his ‘Darlington Stripe’ by smacking the wall at lap 20 and Greg Biffle cut down a right front tire on lap 25. Both drivers made it to pit road, but dropped deep in the running order as Keselowski and Harvick crept away from the rest of the field.
Just before Harvick could mount his challenge for the lead, a spinning Ryan Newman brought the yellow out for the second time at lap 45 and sent all the leaders down pit road for four fresh tires and a full load of fuel. Keselowski won the race off pit road and continued to pace the field through the third caution of the night at lap 61 for debris, when Carl Edwards stayed out to assume the point for the first time.
Edwards’ old tires would be no match for fresher rubber, however, as Kasey Kahne drove around him on the lap 67 restart, and then Denny Hamlin used four tire to drive around Kahne two laps later. Once Hamlin established his stake in the top spot, he would lead until lap 118, when Keselowski surged back to the point.
The caution would fly on lap 120 after Mike Bliss’s No 33 Skoal Bandit tribute car hammered the wall and was the first in a sequence of yellows that kept the pace down until lap 140, when Keselowski was able to reassert control after Kevin Harvick led the restart lap. During the third of those cautions, six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson came across the nose of Joey Logano’s Ford and spun down the frontstretch, losing valuable track position in the process.
The race would remain green until lap 165, when Trevor Bayne cut a tire after contact with Danica Patrick, and the ensuing caution sent the leaders back to pit road. While Kurt Busch would make a valiant effort on his pit stop to get out first, he would fail to beat Keselowski to the exit line and the Miller High Life/Bobby Allison throwback Ford would again lead the field to the green flag.
The 2012 Cup champion would hold the lead all the way through the midway point of the race, finally yielding the point on a restart at lap 203 when Kurt Busch powered to the lead in his Haas Automation Chevrolet. Busch’s time at the front would be short-lived, however, when a Greg Biffle spin brought out the race’s 11th caution and allowed Logano to win the race off pit road.
Logano would not be the leader, though, after multiple cars stayed on the race track for track position — when the smoke cleared on the lap 212 restart, it was three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart leading the fray on old tires. Stewart would lead 10 laps in his Bass Pro Shops-sponsored entry before early-race leader Denny Hamlin would return to the top spot with an inside move in turn four, but would make up a mountain of track position when Chase Elliott popped the wall on lap 229 to slow the pace again.
Hamlin would lose the point after jack problems made for a slow pit stop, allowing Kevin Harvick to rocket away once the green flag returned on lap 238. Harvick, however, would pit under caution at lap 248 and hand the lead to Logano for the first time all race long.
Logano would take off on the lap 252 restart, bringing Martin Truex Jr. with him as the battle for the lead began to heat up. The top four (Logano, Keselowski, Harvick and Truex) would shuffle their positions for multiple laps before David Ragan spun out of the 10th position to bring out the 14th caution of the night with 100 laps to go.
Pit strategy would change the lead over to Kyle Busch — who stayed out as those behind him pitted — and he would lead the field back to green at lap 270. Busch, however, would drop like a boat anchor on the restart, allowing Logano through to resume command with Harvick giving chase.
Yet another yellow, the second straight caused by David Ragan, slowed the pace and forced Logano to pit road on lap 280, putting Harvick’s No. 4 back out front. Harvick would get away ahead of Keselowski,who had rallied his way back to the top two, and lead until a game-changing caution at lap 300 for debris sent the leaders down pit road and set up the beginning of the final sprint to the checkered flag.
Keselowski would win the race off pit road and pace the restart with 62 laps remaining, but the pace would be immediately slowed after Martin Truex Jr. got into the back of Kurt Busch’s Chevrolet and sent him around in turn four, tying the record for cautions in a Darlington Cup race at 17.
That yellow would not slow Keselowski’s march, however, as he rolled away on the restart with 56 laps to go and held Harvick at bay despite numerous attempts by the latter to storm up the inside in turn one. Harvick finally gave up the second spot to Carl Edwards, who methodically cut into Keselowski’s lead and took the top spot at the stripe with 23 laps to go.
Unfazed, Keselowski drove back by on the next lap as Harvick reclaimed second, ready to give chase one final time in search of a second Southern 500 title. As he closed the gap to four car lengths from 1.4 seconds, the caution flew for the record-setting 18th time when Jeb Burton spun underneath Jimmie Johnson and gave the leaders one final chance to bolt fresh rubber onto their machines.
Quick pit work would be the difference-maker, as Edwards won the race off pit road and never looked back, surviving the final eight lap scrap with teammate Hamlin to notch a win in one of NASCAR’s crown jewel races.
Keselowski nipped Hamlin at the line for second, but rued the final pit stop that cost him the victory after leading 196 of 367 laps.
“We were definitely right there, just came up one spot short in the end,” Keselowski said. “Just got behind on that final pit stop. We’ve got a lot to be proud of though, sitting on the pole and leading as many laps as we did. Our game’s strong. We’re not that far off and that feels good. It’s just a few little things we’ve got to get right to get to that next level and contend for wins and for this championship.”
Logano and Harvick made up the balance of the top five, followed by Kurt and Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson.
In all, the event saw 24 lead changes between 11 different drivers, and finished with an average race pace of 109.389 mph.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will return to action for the final race to make the Chase, the Federated Auto Parts 400, from Richmond International Raceway on Saturday, September 12.
RESULTS: Bojangles’ Southern 500; Darlington Raceway; September 6, 2015
- Carl Edwards
- Brad Keselowski
- Denny Hamlin
- Joey Logano
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Busch
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kyle Larson
- Aric Almirola
- Kasey Kahne
- Ryan Newman
- Jamie McMurray
- Tony Stewart
- Jeff Gordon
- Clint Bowyer
- Greg Biffle
- Jimmie Johnson
- Landon Cassill
- Matt Kenseth
- Austin Dillon
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Alex Bowman
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Paul Menard
- David Gilliland
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Casey Mears
- Ryan Blaney
- Jeb Burton
- Mike Bliss
- Justin Allgaier
- J.J. Yeley
- Trevor Bayne
- Brett Moffitt
- T.J. Bell
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Michael Annett
- David Ragan
- Chase Elliott
- Danica Patrick
- Cole Whitt
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s. He is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
