Edwards Fights Back Throughout the Day to Earn Top-15 Finish at Texas

Carl Edwards headed to Texas Motor Speedway with three wins already under his belt, tied with Jimmie Johnson as the all-time Sprint Cup leader at the track. After rolling off fifth, the Roush Fenway Racing driver jumped up to as high as second early on and looked strong right out of the gate. The crew worked to correct a racecar that was slightly tight, only to find that it would become too loose throughout the day, and they couldn’t quite get it back to where they began, resulting in a 14thplace finish.

Edwards began the weekend with a Ford that needed some work and the No.99 team was successfully able to reach the second position in final practice. The NASCAR champion was confident about his qualifying efforts and came out of three rounds in the fifth position. The Columbia, MO native had a car that could battle for the win in the Duck Commander 500 but he would have to wait until Monday to find out what it could do after rain prevented engines from firing on Sunday.

The 334 lap race began with a 10-lap green/yellow start due to wet track conditions, and when the drivers were finally up to full speed Edwards was fast and quickly made his way to the second spot. The car was slightly tight in the center and during the competition caution at lap 49 the team worked to make the necessary adjustments, which ultimately created a car that was too loose, causing Edwards to quickly lose spots on the restart.

The No.99 crew fought hard but Edwards would eventually continue to struggle, falling a lap down to the leaders. He would capture the “Lucky Dog” award twice during the day and would finish on the lead lap during the green-white-checkered finish, ending the day in the 14th position.

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