Carl Edwards' Sprint Cup Series 70-race winless streak is over after he held off Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski at Phoenix International Raceway on a green-white-checker restart for his first win in almost two years.
On the restart, which came after Ken Schrader's crash with three laps to go, Keselowski pushed Edwards from the start/finish line all the way into turn one, allowing Edwards to clear both he and Johnson and cruise to the finish. And most importantly, cruise to the finish under power.
"Oh I know, I talked to a couple people about that this week ... 'I?m about to start getting mad,'" Edwards said about the streak. "I try to stay positive but we really, really like winning and I can?t say enough about everybody believing in me. I?m telling you, we?re back, this is going to be good. Whatever it is you?re doing out there, don?t lose hope. Keep digging and things can work out, I?m proof. This is just awesome, one of the coolest wins of my life."
As the race wound down, the lead lap cars were cutting it short on fuel as the race's final set of pit stops came just inside the teams' window to finish the race without stopping again. And Schrader's caution flag looked like it would make fuel even more of a factor. But while Keselowski said he ran out of gas crossing the finish line, fuel (or a lack of it) didn't affect the race's finishing order.
[Related: Danica Patrick hits wall hard after losing a tire in Phoenix]
Edwards' last Sprint Cup Series win came March 6, 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and his 70-race winless streak tied the longest streak of his career. The track where he broke that first 70-race streak? Phoenix, where he won 2010's fall race.
In victory lane, you could sense the relief in Edwards' voice. Not only because he had gotten his first win in over 700 days but because being doused with Gatorade at Phoenix was a stark contrast to what happened at Daytona during Speedweeks, where Edwards was involved in five accidents, including one in the Daytona 500.
Does this victory automatically make Edwards a contender again? No, not by itself, and besides, it's still way too early to think seriously about the championship. But this win could serve as a great springboard for Edwards to wipe out the memories of 2012 and once again be a factor in the title race.
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5. Carl Edwards (LW: Not Ranked): NASCAR is rigged! They made it so the Subway car won the Subway race! How could they be so obvious?! If you actually believe that theory, then you should bet heavily on Jimmie Johnson at Las Vegas. It was a nice Daytona bounceback for Edwards, who might have changed tires fewer times at Phoenix than he crashed cars in Volusia County.
6. Clint Bowyer (LW: NR): Finishes of sixth and 11th in the first two races of the season will put you in fourth place in the points standings, sixth in the power rankings and who-knows-where in the hearts of NASCAR fans. Depends on how fast those hearts are beating from the rabid consumption of 5-Hour Energy, I guess.
8. Matt Kenseth (LW: NR): Can we safely put to bed any of the theories that Kenseth will struggle early in his transition to JGR? Yeah, he got bit by the JGR motor gremlins while leading at Daytona, but we've seen that they're not very discerning.
9. Aric Almirola (LW: NR): Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Did you know that if the regular season ended today that Almirola would make the Chase? No, you didn't. Don't lie.
11. AJ Allmendinger (LW: NR): Not a bad season debut for Allmendinger, eh? With his partial schedules in both the Sprint Cup and IndyCar Series, Allmendinger has a chance to become the first driver to post top 10s in the same year in both series since Tony Stewart.
12. Casey Mears (LW: NR): His 14th place finish was his highest since a 12th at Martinsville in 2011. And perhaps most importantly for Geico, he got a ton of TV time from the numerous replays showing Junior having to slow down on pit road to avoid Mears pulling into his pit stall.
1. Jimmie Johnson. Well hello there, Mr. Vader. Have you ever been to the top before? It's quite nice, isn't it? Have a seat right there, we'll take you on a tour. That was some power move by JJ on the race's final restart, you guys. He was fortunate enough to be leading at the time the caution flag flew so that he had lane choice with six to go and held off the rest of the field. Side note: with the evidence that Johnson and team filed a "Harlem Shake" video on the Daytona infield after the race, it raises an important question: Will NASCAR ever NOT beat a pop culture trend into the ground long after the fad has passed?
2. Danica Patrick. OHMYGODWHYDIDYOUPUTHERHEREHOWCOULDYOU? YOUAREJUSTDOINGTHISFORPAGEVIEWSAREN'TYOU? Look, if you watched the race on Sunday and you were putting these rankings together, you'd be a fool to leave Patrick out after the race she ran. And had she not been freight-trained by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap, she'd be no lower than third on everybody's boards. Besides, it's not like she's going to be in here in a month or so, right? Right?
3. Brad Keselowski. Speaking of power moves, what kind of message would that have sent had Keselowski held off the field for the final 20 laps with not only a taped up car, but one that had suffered significant trackbar damage to boot? Side note v2: What does Keselowski think of Instagram now that we know Chad Knaus has recently taken an interest in it?
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. If the man had another lap... Instead, this was the first Daytona 500 in four races that didn't go to extra laps and Junior nabbed his third second place finish in those four races. The low line's lack of momentum off the corners doomed Junior off turn four on the final lap, but anyone who doubted his restrictor plate prowess can't do so anymore after watching that move down the backstretch on the final lap.
5. Mark Martin. Nice move to go with Junior there on the final lap for the 54 year-old driver of the No. 55. After the race, Mark glowed about how truly grateful he was for the opportunity to drive for Michael Waltrip Racing and work with the team. Which is also what he said after every race last season.
6. Greg Biffle. Second year, second place on the second-to-last lap, second time he didn't finish second. One of the things we were sure about going in to Sunday's race was that the second place car would have to make a move long before the finish line. Biffle never got close enough to Johnson to make that move and by the time the field was in turn three for the final time, the imperative switched from catching Johnson to fending off the field.
7. Ryan Newman. On Friday, Tony Stewart made a point in his press conference to reinforce the fact that Stewart-Haas Racing had three cars and that Newman drove for the team. Until Friday, we were unaware of that fact. Since Newman finished in the top 5, not only can you get that free Bloomin' Onion, but you also have a chance to get a free month's mortgage from Quicken. Odds of Newman keeping all his promotions straight the entire year: 1,000,000,000 - 1.
8. Regan Smith. The man who led Saturday's Nationwide race off turn four bounced back nicely on Sunday with a top 10 run. Dude's going to be a championship contender in NASCAR's No. 2 series this year and he'll be in many more 500s to come.
9. TIE. Michael McDowell and JJ Yeley. Score one for perseverance, eh? McDowell's first Cup Series top 10 came in his 115th Cup start and it was the first time that Yeley finished in the top 10 since 2008 at New Hampshire. It was a great moment for two guys who have spent most of recent history starting and parking in the Cup Series. We know Tommy Baldwin wants to let Yeley race as much as possible, hopefully the same can be said for Phil Parsons Racing.
11. Denny Hamlin. Score one for being the lone standing Joe Gibbs Racing car, I guess. Hamster led 33 laps and gave JGR a chance of having a first and worst weekend. Alas, he went backwards over the final laps of the race and finished 14th. Better than having a blown engine though.
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. We had to get Danica and Ricky in Power Rankings so that they could immortalize this, print it out, frame it and potentially show it to any future Stenicas that there's room in the From the Marbles Power Rankings for both of them.