Roush didn't repeat, but team had pretty solid day

When Jamie McMurray's No. 26 Ford went sailing off Daytona International Speedway on the 131st lap Saturday night, any chance he had to defend his victory in last year's Pepsi 400 disappeared.

But his Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan stormed towards the front of the Coke Zero 400 as McMurray and their fifth teammate, 2003 Pepsi 400 winner Greg Biffle, faltered.


Coke Zero 400
Official Results

Pos. Driver Make

1. Kyle Busch Toyota
2. Carl Edwards Ford
3. Matt Kenseth Ford
4. Kurt Busch Dodge
5. David Ragan Ford
6. Robby Gordon Dodge
7. Kasey Kahne Dodge
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet
9. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
10. Mark Martin Chevrolet

In the end Edwards (second), Kenseth (third) and Ragan (fifth) were packed in the top five when the race ended under caution; and while six-time 2008 race winner Kyle Busch expanded his lead in the standings, the top-three Roush Fenway drivers made gains.

But it wasn't enough to satisfy all of them. Edwards, who came into the race fourth in the standings, but 170 points behind second place Jeff Burton, showed what one good race versus one bad race can do -- even at this stage of the season.

Edwards remained in fourth, but Burton fell to third, only 47 points clear of Edwards. But Edwards, whose No. 99 Ford's nose was scant feet behind the front of Busch's No. 18 Toyota when the 11th and final caution flew, definitely wanted more.

"Man, I wanted to beat him bad -- real bad," Edwards said of Busch. "But that's just the way it went. When they threw the caution I saw the replay and [Busch] was in front of me. But I was doing everything I could to get up there."

And that included apologizing for nothing.

"I spun out Jeff [Gordon] there [going into Turn 1 on the first lap of the final green-white-checkered restart] but he just came across the nose and I couldn't lift," Edwards said. "If I lifted I knew we weren't going to have a chance to win, so I feel bad for that, but ...

"We still finished second, but man -- I want to win a race at Daytona. Matt [Kenseth] did a good job of trying to help me out, and I appreciate that, too."

Kenseth, whose fourth place was a career best in 15 Daytona starts, had a car that came and went, but it was coming when it mattered most, and a four-point gain in the standings, to ninth, was the payoff.

But even he had visions of something better.

"Down the back [straight], I was trying to push Carl because we had such a good restart and Kurt [Busch] was behind me pushing me like crazy," Kenseth said. "But he was trying to look different directions on Kyle, and Kyle was blocking like crazy and he was all over the straightaway.

"I was scared to hit [Edwards]; I thought he was going to spin out. And finally I did give him a little shove and he got sideways and Kyle went up to block him and got sideways, and I was right in the middle of it and was going to wreck, so I had to get out of the gas.

"If Kyle could've gotten straight and if we could've gotten a farther-back run on Kyle, I think we both could've gone by him, and maybe race for the win, but we couldn't quite get that figured out exactly right.

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"The guys made great adjustments, and we were pretty competitive, so it feels good."

Ragan had the most consistent car all night long, as he started sixth, was in the top five for the first 30 laps and only fell out of the top 20 on one 10-lap rundown sheet.

Ragan, who scored his second fifth-place finish in only his fourth career Daytona start, said he had a lot of help along the way, and how good crew chief Jimmy Fennig had their No. 6 Fusion tuned was the reason.

"I feel like we had good speed, and it was to their benefit to work with us, whether they wanted to or not [so] it was good," Ragan said. "I made a few mistakes out there where I think we could've been up there in the top two or three, but it was fun coming back to the front and we had a good time.

"But, we just got to keep working on it, and that was a good rebound from last week [when he crashed with teammate McMurray at New Hampshire]."

The result brought Ragan to 15th in the points, but more importantly, to within 102 points of 12th place Tony Stewart.

"That just makes us hate last week's finish even more -- real disappointing," Ragan said. "This is what it's going to take to make the Chase, and to get out of Daytona with a good finish, we've just got to look at some of the next few races and stay focused on the big picture."