Carl Edwards won Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway, but the bigger story was which drivers made the 10th Chase for the Sprint Cup.
The 12 drivers that will make up the Chase field are the 10 locked-in competitors, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Matt
Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano and two wild-card entries, Kasey Kahne and Martin Truex Jr., who was forced to drive with a broken wrist suffered two weeks ago.
Kurt Busch became the first driver in Chase history to make the playoffs driving for a single-car team.
Falling short of making the Chase was four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who missed the playoffs for only the second time in his career, and by a mere one point),
Ryan Newman (who lost in a points tiebreaker to Martin Truex Jr.) and defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski.
Gordon and Keselowski both didn’t help their cause during the first 26 races, as neither managed a win.
Keselowski became the second former Chase champion to win in one year and then miss the playoffs the following year (Tony Stewart won the title in 2005 and missed the Chase in 2006).
Penske Racing teammate Joey Logano will now be the only Chase competitor for his organization, but Keselowski said Friday that he believes Logano has the ability to win the championship.
As for the race itself, Clint Bowyer spun as a result of a blown tire and brought out the caution flag with seven laps remaining, tightening the field for the final restart with three laps left.
Kurt Busch finished second in the race, followed by Newman, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Matt Kenseth, Truex, Gordon, Mark Martin and rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr
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