Edwards regrets losing ground to Kyle Busch

Team owner Jack Roush wasn't sure who had won. Had his Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night? Or had Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch racked up his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup win of the season?

"The way the electronic scoring works and the perspective you have from pit road and watching to see on TV, you can't be sure," Roush said. "I had no idea."


After NASCAR reviewed where the two were when the final caution came out for a multicar crash on the backstretch, Busch was the victor. Still, Edwards' second-place finish maintained his fourth position in the standings. He is 47 points behind Jeff Burton and 249 behind leader Kyle Busch.

Edwards said that he wasn't surprised when he was told that Busch was the winner.

"I was pretty sure [I was second] when we were running because I saw the yellow light come on right as I was going by it and I was just getting a run up on his door," Edwards said. "So I thought that I was probably second."

As he assessed his race, Edwards applauded crew chief Bob Osborne's strategy, one that had him pitting out of sequence with the leaders and returning to pit road with about 45 to go.

"That was cool of Bob to do," Edwards said. "We are getting close to the Chase [for the NASCAR Sprint Cup] and we are comfortable with our position, so it was good to see Bob do some gambling."

While Edwards saw the strength of his run, he was obviously less than pleased to see Busch be the driver beating him at the line.

That gives Busch six wins compared to three for Edwards. Once the Chase field is set, NASCAR awards 10 points per win to a driver. Now, that would put Busch 40 points ahead of Edwards because Edwards will not get bonus points for his win at Las Vegas because the car failed postrace inspection.

And that points gap doesn't thrill the Roush Fenway driver.

"That's what hurt the most ... You're so close and then it gives [up those points], especially with one guy like Kyle who is winning all those races, he's really setting himself up for a great start to the Chase," Edwards said.

"You know, if he wins one or two more, he's almost got a freebie there if he blows an engine or has a bad race or something. They are doing it right, and that's going to be hard for the rest of us • Those points, we're going to have to make up, that's just the way it is."

As to his incident with Jeff Gordon, whom Edwards made contact with on the final restart as the two battled for the lead, Edwards said that Gordon was trying to get in front of him and he thought Gordon would turn. Gordon spun onto the grass and essentially ended his race, then refused to lay blame for the accident.

Edwards said that "[Gordon] was coming down and he was doing the best he could, I think, to try to get in front of me and he was up against my fender. I thought that he would turn right at any moment, but that's all that happened there."