In a race decided by fuel strategy, Edwards stretched his fuel far enough to end his 70-race Sprint Cup losing streak, while Denny Hamlin, who led 190 laps of the 312 lap race, pitted for a possibly unnecessary splash, costing him half his points lead over Jimmie Johnson.
“Man, this is unreal,” Edwards told ESPN after the race. “[Team owner] Jack Roush said, ‘I’d forgotten what it felt like to win one on fuel mileage, except for that feeling in the pit of your stomach for the last two laps.’ I know the feeling.”
Edwards’ last Sprint Cup win came at Homestead in 2008; he ran all of one season and all but one race of the next without ever seeing Victory Circle. It was tough on the team, but they didn’t give up.
“It’s been a long drought. It’s been really hard to keep our confidence up and this is what we needed. It still doesn’t feel like this really happened. We needed this win.”
As he did at his last two nationwide wins, last week at Texas and Saturday at Phoenix, Edwards went through the fence into the crowd to meet his fans after the race. His fans mobbed him—one commentator mentioned that that was the most dangerous thing he had done all weekend—but Edwards enjoyed it.
“That’s so cool to be able to go up there and celebrate with the fans,” he said, thanking track officials for opening the gate to let him through.
Hamlin’s crew chief Mike Ford called him in 14 laps from the end for fuel and two tires, dropping his driver from second to 19th place. Despite the rest of the field slowing down to conserve fuel, Hamlin only made it back to 12th by the end.
Hamlin looked despondent after the race. After being fastest all day, he had counted on going to Homestead with a healthy lead over Jimmie Johnson. Instead, he felt he had been undercut by his own crew, victim of a bad strategy call which could ultimately cost him the 2010 Sprint Cup Championship.
It’s pretty disappointing,” Hamlin told ESPN. “We were in a good position there to look pretty good going into next week, and now we’ve got to just outrace them next week.
Hamlin felt like he should have won at Phoenix—he had done everything right. He couldn’t think of what changes the team needed to make for Homestead.
“Good cars and all that, we had all that today; things didn’t work out strategy-wise so it’s tough to say what we gotta do. We did what we had to do today— just didn’t have it there at the end. It’s frustrating.
“We’re just going to go there next week and try to win that race.”
Fuel Saving, Pit Error, Both Work Out
Jimmie Johnson ran 89 laps on a single tank of gas. Crew chief Chad Knauss, faced with the same decision as Mike Ford, opted to conserve, telling Johnson to “turn off all of your fans and don’t use the brakes. All we got to do is stay ahead of the 29 [Kevin Harvick] if that’s possible.”
Despite never quite finding the right setup in the second half of the race, Johnson ran fast enough—and slow enough—to finish fifth, cutting Hamlin’s points lead from 33 to 15 and setting up the closest Chase in NASCAR history.
“I did anything I could to stay out of the throttle,” Johnson said after the race. “Gave up a couple positions at the end, and driving down pit road I thought, ‘Man I should have fought a little harder for those two spots,’ because right now every point counts.
“We had to work whatever magic we could there at the end. We saved fuel and got it done, and we have one heck of a points race going to Miami.”
Johnson was unfazed to be heading to Homestead, the only Chase track where he has never won, and in second place for the first time in five years. Johnson felt the pressure was on Hamlin, not himself.
“I hope the pressure of us being on his heels works on his mind throughout the course of the week. Not only do they have the 48 to worry about, but the 29. One race, winner take all, it’s going to be one heck of a show.”
When the field pitted after Robby Gordon spun on lap 222, Harvick’s crew left off one lug nut and had to repit, dropping the car from fifth to 19th. On lap 233 Travis Kvapil spun, causing another caution. The leaders stayed out, but Harvick, already at the back, opted to pit again for more fuel and a track bar adjustment.
While the rest of the field slowed to conserve fuel, Harvick was able to keep charging, nearly catching Jimmie Johnson in the final few laps.
“We’re just lucky, to be honest with you,” Harvick told ESPN after the race “These guys on it road do a great job—they just made a mistake. I was pretty down; I thought, ‘There it went.’ Richard and Gil [team owner Richard Childress and crew chief Gil Martin] and everybody were just like, ‘Keep at it.’”
We dodged one, for sure, and I‘ve still got a chance next week. That’s all you can ask for.
Closest Chase in History
In 2004, the first year of the Chase, Kurt Busch led Jimmie Johnson by 18 points heading into the Homestead finale. Busch won the Cup (the Nextel Cup then) by eight points, finishing fifth in the season finale while Johnson came home second.
In 2004, Jeff Gordon was only three points behind Johnson, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin 72 and 82 points back.
2010 presents the same scenario, with a slightly smaller margin between first and second, but Kevin Harvick, 46 points back in third, has a lot slimmer chance of taking home the Sprint Cup in 2010 than Gordon did in 2004.
But really, no one is watching Harvick anyway. The battle is between Denny Hamlin, who has had an amazing season, and Jimmie Johnson, who has won the Chase four years running.
Jimmie Johnson has never won a race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Denny Hamlin won there in 2009. Despite being upset after the race, Denny Hamlin is still in the lead, and heading to a track where he knows how to win.
Jimmie Johnson hasn’t seen second place at the end of the Chase in half a decade, and he has never won at Homestead, but he is totally focused on winning his fifth Cup in a row.
After the Kobalt Tools 500, Jimmie Johnson told a reporter, “A good day right now isn’t going to get it done. We need a great day.”
The 2010 NASCAR season finale, the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, will run on Sunday, November 21. Tickets and travel arrangements can be made through the Homestead-Miami Speedway website.
Race coverage on ESPN kicks off at 1 p.m. eastern.
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase Points | ||||
|
| +/- | Driver | Points | Behind |
| 1 | -- | Denny Hamlin | 6462 | — |
| 2 | -- | Jimmie Johnson | 6447 | -15 |
| 3 | -- | Kevin Harvick | 6416 | -46 |
| 4 | -- | Carl Edwards | 6198 | -264 |
| 5 | -- | Matt Kenseth | 6151 | -311 |
| 6 | -- | Jeff Gordon | 6124 | -338 |
| 7 | -- | Kyle Busch | 6115 | -347 |
| 8 | +1 | Greg Biffle | 6113 | -349 |
| 9 | -1 | Tony Stewart | 6074 | -388 |
| 10 | +1 | Kurt Busch | 6033 | -429 |
| 11 | -1 | Clint Bowyer | 6028 | -434 |
| 12 | -- | Jeff Burton | 5958 | -504 |
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Kobalt Tools 500 | |||||||
|
| Car | Driver | Make | Sponsor | Pts/bns | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 190/5 | 312 | Running |
| 2 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army Veterans Day Tribute | 170/0 | 312 | Running |
| 3 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 165/0 | 312 | Running |
| 4 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M Scotch Brand | 160/0 | 312 | Running |
| 5 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 155/0 | 312 | Running |
| 6 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Shell / Pennzoil | 150/0 | 312 | Running |
| 7 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Valvoline | 151/5 | 312 | Running |
| 8 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 142/0 | 312 | Running |
| 9 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Miller Lite | 143/5 | 312 | Running |
| 10 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 134/0 | 312 | Running |
| 11 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 130/0 | 312 | Running |
| 12 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Ground | 137/10 | 312 | Running |
| 13 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s | 129/5 | 312 | Running |
| 14 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Diet Mountain Dew “Paint the 88” / National Guard | 121/0 | 312 | Running |
| 15 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 118/0 | 312 | Running |
| 16 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 115/0 | 312 | Running |
| 17 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Old Spice / Office Depot | 112/0 | 312 | Running |
| 18 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Insignia HDTV / Best Buy | 109/0 | 312 | Running |
| 19 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 106/0 | 312 | Running |
| 20 | 09 | Bobby Labonte | Chevrolet | C&J Energy | 108/5 | 312 | Running |
| 21 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Cheerios / Hamburger Helper | 100/0 | 312 | Running |
| 22 | 47 | Marcos Ambrose | Toyota | Little Debbie / Safeway | 97/0 | 312 | Running |
| 23 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 94/0 | 312 | Running |
| 24 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | GEICO | 91/0 | 312 | Running |
| 25 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS | 88/0 | 310 | Running |
| 26 | 00 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Tums | 85/0 | 310 | Running |
| 27 | 9 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Budweiser | 82/0 | 310 | Running |
| 28 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | Ford | Paralyzed Veterans of America | 79/0 | 310 | Running |
| 29 | 98 | Paul Menard | Ford | Peak / Menards | 76/0 | 310 | Running |
| 30 | 83 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 73/0 | 310 | Running |
| 31 | 26 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | Air National Guard | 70/0 | 309 | Running |
| 32 | 77 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Mobil 1 | 67/0 | 309 | Running |
| 33 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Toyota | Polaris | 64/0 | 308 | Running |
| 34 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 61/0 | 308 | Running |
| 35 | 82 | Scott Speed | Toyota | Red Bull | 58/0 | 307 | Running |
| 36 | 34 | Tony Raines | Ford | A&W All American Food | 55/0 | 306 | Running |
| 37 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 52/0 | 306 | Running |
| 38 | 37 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 49/0 | 274 | In Pit |
| 39 | 55 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Prism Motorsports | 46/0 | 193 | In Pit |
| 40 | 164 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Empire Steel Buildings | 43/0 | 191 | In Pit |
| 41 | 81 | Terry Labonte | Dodge | Red Line Oil | 40/0 | 190 | Retired |
| 42 | 12 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Penske Racing | 37/0 | 58 | In Pit |
| 43 | 71 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | South Point Hotel & Casino | 34/0 | 1 | In Pit |
