FORT WORTH, Tex. - Just call Carl Edwards the "King of the Intermediate Tracks."
Edwards outran Jimmie Johnson to the checkered flag in a green-white-checkered finish to score his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the season in Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
"Man, I didn't know about that last restart," Edwards said. "It means the world to come out of here with a win though."
All three of Edwards' victories this year have come on 1.5 and two-mile tracks and his win Sunday was the second of his career at Texas.
Edwards now has 10 Sprint Cup Series wins in 128 career starts.
"The reason we won at Vegas is because of all the hard work that the guys at the shop and the engine department, it's not because of that oil tank lid," Edwards said as he climbed from his car, referring to the controversial Vegas race last month. "That's what it's about. We're driving. It's fun. It's fun when you get out of the car and your hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel. That's good."
The overtime finish was set-up when Martin Truex, Jr. blew an engine on lap 331. That pushed the race past its scheduled 334-lap distance and on the subsequent green flag on the 337th circuit, Edwards was able to get the jump on Johnson to go on to the win.
"Carl was better than us at the end," Johnson said. "Today was a great day. We had a great handling race car, but we had nothing for Carl at the end."
Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Newman's car was found to have its right rear too high in post-race inspection. NASCAR will announce a possible penalty and details later in the week.
Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer completed the first 10 finishers.
It wasn't a good day for Jeff Gordon, who continued his struggles at Texas, where he has yet to score a Sprint Cup Series win.
Battling an ill-handling car all day, Gordon finally spun and collected the fourth turn wall on lap 110 and was handed a 43rd-place finish. It was only the second time in Gordon's Cup career that he's finished last.
Burton retained the series points lead, 59 points over his Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick.
The Sprint Cup Series now heads to Phoenix International Raceway for next Saturday night's Subway Fresh 500.
