Fuel Strategy Gives Edwards First Win at Charlotte [VIDEO]

After the first 370 of 400 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway, no one would have picked Carl Edwards or his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as the likely winner of the season’s 12th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin had spent the lion’s share of time at the head of the field, but none of that mattered when Edwards got 62 laps out of his last tank of fuel and took the checkered flag 4.785 seconds ahead of Greg Biffle, who also was on a fuel-saving strategy.

In fact, the top four finishers all stretched their gas mileage after pit stops under caution on Lap 337. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran third, followed by polesitter Matt Kenseth and Truex, who led a race-high 131 laps.

Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Hamlin (53 laps led), Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch (118 laps led) completed the top 10. Kyle Busch came home 11th in his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race of the season, after missing the first 11 races of the season because of injuries sustained Feb. 21 at Daytona.

The victory was Edwards first of the season, his first for Joe Gibbs Racing, his first at Charlotte and the 24th of his career.

"It’s so cool to get this win—we’ve had such bad luck," said Edwards, who joined Joe Gibbs Racing as the organization’s fourth Sprint Cup driver after the 2014 season. "And we were the slowest of the (JGR cars) tonight, but we had (crew chief) Darian (Grubb) on the box. He made the right call, he put us in a position to win, and it worked.

"This is truly a gift. I took advantage of it to win, and we’ll get better."

In all likelihood, the victory will propel Edwards into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. It was also Toyota’s 300th national series victory in the manufacturer’s 300th Sprint Cup start.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race - Coca-Cola 600
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, North Carolina
Sunday, May 24, 2015

1. (3) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 400, $363390.

2. (4) Greg Biffle, Ford, 400, $277263.

3. (15) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 400, $217255.

4. (1) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 400, $252716.

5. (10) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 400, $182350.

6. (19) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 400, $166570.

7. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400, $172911.

8. (5) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400, $143720.

9. (8) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 400, $174045.

10. (14) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 400, $140045.

11. (17) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 400, $157301.

12. (33) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 400, $128685.

13. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 400, $161793.

14. (23) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 400, $120735.

15. (18) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 400, $156371.

16. (11) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 400, $147271.

17. (21) Aric Almirola, Ford, 399, $146046.

18. (28) Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, 399, $103910.

19. (22) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 399, $136826.

20. (24) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 399, $140368.

21. (12) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 399, $132399.

22. (20) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 398, $111760.

23. (34) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 398, $128993.

24. (26) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 398, $128305.

25. (9) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 398, $129468.

26. (31) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 397, $116518.

27. (27) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 397, $141210.

28. (37) Cole Whitt, Ford, 396, $113343.

29. (30) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 395, $125618.

30. (25) Michael McDowell, Ford, 394, $97335.

31. (40) Brett Moffitt #, Ford, 393, $97185.

32. (36) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 393, $95560.

33. (39) David Gilliland, Ford, 392, $115957.

34. (42) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 392, $95285.

35. (38) Josh Wise, Ford, 392, $98135.

36. (43) Alex Kennedy #, Chevrolet, 389, $97535.

37. (29) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 382, $102761.

38. (41) JJ Yeley(i), Toyota, Engine, 377, $89413.

39. (32) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 375, $85350.

40. (13) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 370, $129286.

41. (7) David Ragan, Toyota, Engine, 353, $105164.

42. (16) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, Engine, 281, $73350.

43. (35) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Accident, 135, $77850.