Edwards wins for first time since 2005

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/17/2007 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Breaking a 52-race winless streak, Carl Edwards captured Sunday's Citizens Bank 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. The No.99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver crossed the finish line more than three seconds ahead of Martin Truex Jr.

The victory was the fifth of Edwards' Nextel Cup career and the first since November 2005 at the Texas Motor Speedway.

"This is awesome, I'm just living the dream and having a blast," said Edwards.

First-time pole winner J.J. Yeley brought the field to the green flag for 200 laps of high-speed racing. But it was Jimmie Johnson who led the first lap. In fact, Yeley fell all the way to eighth place before he could get back into line.

Behind Johnson, Ryan Newman and new powerhouse Truex Jr. were taking up the chase. Truex Jr. passed Newman and on lap 10 went inside Johnson for his first lead of the race.

Newman fell further back with a flat left-rear tire on lap 14. It was not an easy change as rubber had wrapped itself around the axle. The No.12 Alltel Dodge returned to the track in 43rd place, three laps down to the leaders.

By lap 30, Truex Jr.'s lead over Johnson had ballooned to 3.070 seconds. Behind Johnson was an even bigger gap, it was more than six seconds to third- place Jeff Gordon.

Through a round of green-flag pit stops and Truex Jr., Johnson and Gordon were still one-two-three. The pace was fast and through 50 laps only 28 cars remained on the lead lap.

A first caution flag of the race on lap 53 sent everyone diving down pit lane. Truex Jr. came out first, but the big winner was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who used a two-tire change to grab second place from Johnson. Bill Elliott, who won the June race at MIS three straight years from 1985-1987, also used a two-tire stop to crack the top-10.

Johnson took four tires and after just three laps he moved around "Junior" for second place. He was flying and on lap 64 he went underneath Truex Jr. for the lead.

Juan Montoya brought out caution flag number two when he slammed the wall in turn two. Edwards, who was up to second place just before the caution, was penalized for speeding on pit road dropping him all the way back to 28th place.

Jeff Green and Newman brought out a third caution flag as the No.12 Dodge was sent flying across the infield. Truex Jr., Kenseth and Brian Vickers were sucked up in the accident and it sent the No.17 Roush Fenway Ford to the garage. Before today, Kenseth had completed every lap of every race in 2007.

Johnson and Gordon were now one-two and working together to pull away from third place Kurt Busch. They were two seconds up on the No.2 Dodge and five seconds up on Tony Stewart who had finally made his way into contention after starting 43rd.

Meanwhile, Edwards and Truex Jr. were working their way through the slower cars to get back into the race. By lap 90 they were 12th and 15th, respectively. Three laps later Edwards was in the top-10 again.

Johnson began to stretch out his lead, to one and-a-half seconds at the 100- lap mark. Five laps later it was 2.632 seconds as Gordon began to complain of a "tight" race car. Gordon suddenly began to drop, to fifth on lap 109. He pitted on the next lap, beginning a round of green-flag stops.

Near the end of the stops, Tony Raines spun to bring out a caution flag. Truex Jr., Earnhardt Jr. and Paul Menard, all DEI cars, were leading the race when the flag came out. They would pit and return to the track in ninth, 10th and 13th, respectively

Johnson was again the leader with Busch, Stewart and Edwards just behind. Edwards was still strong and by lap 124 had passed Stewart and Busch and he was just six-tenths behind the No.48 Chevy.

Three laps later he was on Johnson's rear bumper. Edwards tried a couple of times to pass Johnson, but each time he had to fall back into line. Finally, on lap 130, he got his man.

With clean air, Edwards showed off his power and built the lead to 2.021 second in just eight laps. With 55 laps to go the gap was up to 3.005 seconds over the new second-place driver - Truex Jr. Of course, Edwards had an 11- second lead in Saturday's Busch race and didn't win, so there was still a lot of work to do.

By lap 158, Truex Jr. closed onto Edwards' bumper. Edwards pitted while Truex Jr. continued on with the lead. Gordon, who had topped off before the last green flag restart stayed out as well.

Truex Jr. came in with 41 laps to go, could he make it all the way from here?

Gordon came in on the next lap and the question was the same for the No.24 Chevy.

Johnson was the new race leader, but he would likely need a "splash-and-go" unless there were some caution flag laps. Behind him were Edwards and Truex Jr. Gordon returned to the track in 13th.

Edwards was again on the move and caught Johnson on lap 164. He went to the high side and swept past Johnson with 35 laps to go. Thirty to go and the lead was 1.462 seconds on Johnson and 3.006 seconds on Truex Jr. Of the three, Truex Jr. was posting the fastest laps.

Truex Jr. got around Johnson with 26 to go as Johnson was in "fuel conservation" mode. His crew chief thought he was about two laps short of reaching the checkered flag.

The No.1 DEI Chevy was still on the move and it looked like only a matter of time before he caught Edwards. Twenty-two laps to go and the margin was just 0.556 seconds. He cut it two about four car lengths, but then his charge to the front seemed to stall.

Was he having a problem or just waiting to make his move?

Edwards was fighting back and built the lead to one second with 10 laps remaining.

Johnson coasted down pit lane with eight laps to go...out of fuel.

Edwards was now 2.775 seconds ahead of Truex Jr. with five laps to go and seemed resigned to second place unless the No.99 Ford ran out of fuel.

With the lead, Edwards could now coast in and out of the corners and he made it to the checkered flag for the victory.

Edwards celebrated with his traditional back flip and made the trip to Victory Lane.

Gordon finished ninth and his lead is 264 points over Denny Hamlin going to the next event at the Infineon Raceway on June 24th for the first road-course race of the year.