Practices were confusing to me. He was 8th fastest in the first practice but only 20th fastest in the second and final practice. And while his single lap runs did not top the board, he was 3rd and 1st in ten-lap averages. Looked like they focused on a strong long-run set up instead of qualifying speed.
That seemed to hold true once qualifying got underway. He was 12th in the first round, advancing to round two. But in the second round he was 13th, and with only 12 cars advancing to the third round, he did not move on. He would start the race in 13th.
Once the green flag dropped, he began advancing through the field. By the time the first of many cautions came out, he was in the top ten. But when he pitted during the caution, he got blocked in his pit stall by the car in the stall ahead of him. As a result of the slow pit stop, he restarted back in 18th place.
When the race resumed, he once again began moving forward. By the time the second caution flag flew on lap 84, he was back up to his starting position of 13th. This next pit stop must have made some good adjustments, because when the race resumed he was able to get back into the top ten.
A debris caution halfway through the race gave Dave Rogers a chance to give the Arris Toyota more grip, and that grip allowed Carl to pilot his car closer to the front of the field. Following a catuion on lap 250, Carl restarted in 2nd place. It seemed that there were a couple of cars strong than the 19, but his car did seem to be at least a top five car. And being that close to the front of the field can sometimes result in some serendipitous scenarios, should other teams have mishaps, so it was a good place to run.
But things changed with about a quarter of the race left to go. When a car got into the wall and brought out the caution, a handful of teams elected to stay out instead of pitting, hoping for a change of fortune. So even though Carl came off pit road in 3rd, he restarted 10th.
Unfortunately we brought out the next caution with a spin, but Carl was able to get the car under control without hitting anything. And Dave and his crew were able to change the tires on pit road without losing a lap. The 19 car restarted 19th. For the next 70-ish laps, Carl ranged between 11th and 19th.
The next caution flag ended our night and the hope for a Richmond sweep. In what has become far too commonplace, Tony Stewart retaliated against a perceived error by another driver, in this case Ryan Newman. Unfortunately his actions affected several other cars as well. Eight cars ended up damaged, including the Arris Camry. Our race was over with less than 40 laps to go. Carl ended up in 32nd place.
That finish dropped him 1 spot on the Chase grid from 4th to 5th, and 3 positions in the drivers' standings, from 4th to 7th. But now that the Chase is about to begin, the points get reset. Each driver earns 3 bonus points for each race victory, so Carl enters the Chase with 6 bonus points. That ties him with 4 other drivers for 4th place. But nobody knows better than a Carl Edwards fan that NASCAR has tiebreakers! In this case, the tiebreaker is second-place finishes, if still tied then third-place finishes, and so on. Carl is second best of that bunch, putting him in 5th place going into Chicagoland. Now it is time to put to use all of the strategies that the team has learned during the first 26 races!
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