Friday’s slew of Nationwide events were dominated by Texas Motor Speedway veteran Carl Edwards. Edwards being one of the drivers who’s quite comfortable on the mile and a half track here in Dallas/Fort Worth and the Nationwide winner at Texas last fall.
After the qualifying runs Edwards was sitting on pole for the race friday night, putting him in prime position for a win as long as he could keep Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski both qualifying in the top 10 in his rear view. Also qualifying in the top of the pack were Elliot Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard, Trevor Bayne, Kasey Kahne, and Aric Almirola.
Luck for Edwards happened at the halfway point when Busch who was challenging the lead quickly found himself wrecking into Tim Schendel who had blown a tire. Carl led for 169 of the 200 laps holding off last years Nationwide champ Brad Keselowski’s efforts to take the win at the end of the race. Rounding out the top five were Paul Menard, Joey Logano, & Elliot Sadler.
Not only did Edwards win at Texas mark his first Nationwide win of the 2011 Season, and the 30th win of his career, it marks the first win for the new Mustang cars the Ford drivers are sporting.
