Cup regular Edwards wins Milwaukee Nationwide race after long commute from California

Carl Edwards wins Milwaukee Nationwide race

WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Carl Edwards didn’t perform his usual celebratory backflip after winning at the Milwaukee Mile last year. It just didn’t seem right after hearing the news that drag racer Scott Kalitta had died in a crash earlier that day.

But Edwards was back to backflipping after yet another successful one-day getaway to Wisconsin on Saturday night, winning his second straight Nationwide race at the Mile — and his first race in the series this season.

Now he hopes a win at Milwaukee will lead to a hot streak, just like it did last year.

“Yeah, we can,” Edwards said. “We can go win every race. That’s how we approach them.”

Edwards and fellow Cup commuter Kyle Busch both took a brief break from their Sprint Cup duties in California to fly more than 2,000 miles and race in Milwaukee on Saturday.

Edwards took the lead from Busch with 44 laps to go and wasn’t significantly challenged the rest of the way.

“Carl got to do a backflip,” team owner Jack Roush said. “How do you get any better than that?”

Busch finished second, followed by Brad Keselowski.

And Busch, whose points lead over Edwards was reduced to 127, wasn’t happy about it.

“Well, duh,” Busch said, when asked if he was disappointed. “I finished second. I’m not here to finish second. I traveled all this way to win the race and I didn’t win the race. I guess the bright side of it is that I’ll get home early and get to bed early.”

Roush, a licensed pilot, flew the plane from California to Wisconsin — with a stop in Colorado for fuel and sandwiches. Another pilot was scheduled to fly them back to California after the race, presumably so they can get some sleep.

“We’ll be going back the same way, kind of,” Edwards said. “Only we’ll have a trophy, and that feels really good.”

Rookie Erik Darnell, a part-time Nationwide driver who qualified on the pole earlier Saturday, was running second in the late stages of the race but slipped to fourth at the finish.

Edwards and Busch missed qualifying for Saturday’s race — meaning they would have to start at the back of the pack after replacement drivers qualified their cars— but arrived in time to take the green flag.

Both drivers quickly made up ground once the green flag dropped, climbing into the top 20 only 18 laps into the race and into the top 10 by lap 55.

Busch then took over the lead on lap 123, coming off pit road first after a round of pit stops under caution. But Edwards began to gain ground on Busch during a subsequent long green-flag run, and some drama developed as a piece of metal began dragging and sparking near Busch’s right-rear wheel.

Busch’s crew turned in another fast stop under caution on lap 194, getting him off pit road ahead of Edwards, Keselowski and Steve Wallace. But Busch couldn’t shake loose of Edwards after the restart, and Edwards took the lead with 44 laps to go — just as Brad Coleman, who spent much of the first half of the race running in the top five, crashed to bring out a caution.

“I knew that Carl was better than us all night,” Busch said. “He fell behind a little bit with track position. He seemed to get that back. He went up there and passed us and won the race. Our car wasn’t that strong, it was real loose if I tried to drive it any harder.”

Darnell then took second place from Busch with 30 laps to go, making a bold move to the outside through Turns 1 and 2. Busch retook second place in the closing laps, but it was too late to challenge Edwards for the win.

It was a breakout performance by 21-year-old former USAC standout Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who took over the lead on lap 56. In only his fourth career start in the series, driving for the powerhouse Roush Fenway team, the Olive Branch, Miss., native held the lead through a round of green-flag pit stops until Keselowski passed him on lap 105. Stenhouse finished fifth.

Ron Hornaday Jr., who celebrated his 51st birthday by winning the Camping World Truck series race earlier Saturday, was penalized for speeding on pit road early but rebounded to finish ninth. The trucks race originally was scheduled to run Friday night, but was postponed because of rain.

After making the long flight back to California, Busch is slated to start second in Sunday’s Sprint Cup road race at Sonoma. Edwards will start 34th.