Carl Edwards went from the Chase cellar to the Championship Round with Sunday’s win in the AAA Texas 500.
After an accident at Martinsville Speedway left the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team with a 39-point deficit entering the weekend, Edwards led the final 36 laps at Texas Motor Speedway for his third — and most important victory of the 2016 season.
“This is what we had to do,” Edwards said. “Dave (crew chief Rogers) and the crew got me off of pit road first, that’s what won it for us.
“We have a shot at the championship going to Homestead. That’s all we wanted and I can’t go to Homestead. It’s going to be a blast.”
Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five finishers.
Race rundown
Following a six-hour delay, the AAATexas 500 started under yellow and green flags with the surface still damp. NASCAR polled the competitors and ascertained track conditions were conducive to racing and lifted the yellow 10 minutes later on Lap 6.
Logano jumped out to the lead and held the point for the first 25 laps until he pitted on the competition caution on Lap 31. He regained the lead on Lap 32 and remained there until his green flag pit stop on Lap 75. Logano cycled out to the front on Lap 79. Nine circuits later, the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford had lapped half the field.
Brian Scott spun off of Turn 4 to ignite the third caution on Lap 108 — barely missing Kyle Busch as he came off of the wall. The race returned to green on Lap 116, but one lap later NASCAR called the fourth caution for a piece of carbon fiber on the race track. Nine cars used the opportunity to pit again including Jimmie Johnson — the only Chaser — and Paul Menard, who pitted outside of his pit box and was penalized one lap. The mistake proved costly for Menard who was mired in traffic and spun off of Turn 4 after a left rear went flat 22 laps later.
Although Logano led three times for a total of 178 laps in the first 188 circuits, Truex and Edwards' decision to pit on Lap 187 — one lap ahead of the No. 22 Ford -- was the game changer. The strategy cost Logano the lead and inevitably the win. When he came in for service, pit road was considerably more congested. Logano lost valuable time in the process.
Truex took over the point and took off in clean air with Edwards in tow. David Ragan chopped Austin Dillon in Turn 3 to trigger the sixth caution on Lap 256. Although Truex had led 66 laps, Edwards pit crew executed the money stop on Lap 257 which enabled the No. 19 Toyota to take the lead.
The race was barely up to speed when Kevin Harvick plowed into the back of Dillon on Lap 262. Dillon bounced off the wall and several cars — including Casey Mears were collected in the incident.
Once again, Edwards was the first car off of pit road. He took the lead when the race went green on Lap 270 and held the point until rain returned to the track just before 10p.m.
NASCAR called the race after 293 laps and declared Edwards the winner. Edwards, 37, who won his fourth race at Texas and his 28th career victory overall, was grateful to see the rain.
“We were in a bad spot if we went green again,” Edwards said. “I think we could have held (Logano) off. He was really good on the bottom but my car was going away. I ran pretty hard at the start, but man, that was fun.
“Martin did a great job. If we hadn’t beaten him off of pit road, obviously, we wouldn’t have gotten this. It was really fun chasing him down before this. But this is huge. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. This team has worked really hard all year and it’s really cool. All we wanted was a shot and now we’re going to Homestead.
Harvick finished sixth followed by Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson.
Chase outlook
Two positions remain in the final four with Edwards and Johnson securing berths with wins.
The only Chaser to finish off of the lead lap was Kurt Busch, who was lapped by Truex on Lap 243 while the No. 41 was running 17th. Although he regained the lap as the lucky dog during the seventh caution on Lap 264, NASCAR penalized the team for multiple trips to pit road. He finished 20th and dropped to eighth (4,040) in the standings.
Johnson maintained the points lead (4,074) but shares a three-way tie with Logano and Kyle Busch. Kenseth trails the threesome by one point, Hamlin by two points and Harvick is 18 points behind the leaders.
Race results
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Carl Edwards
 logró la victoria en  en , correspondiente a la segunda fecha de la tercera etapa de la Caza por la Copa, la Ronda de 8, y avanza a la ronda final en . Es su tercera victoria en la temporada, cuarta en este óvalo y la 28ª en su carrera en la .

El piloto del Toyota número 19, largó noveno y fue avanzando en la carrera, manteniéndose en los primeros lugares toda la carrera. En la última detención en pits en la vuelta 258, el equipo hizo un parada rapidísima de 11.8 segundos versus los 12.5 del por aquel entonces líder  que lo llevó al liderar las últimas 36 vueltas de carrera, antes de que la carrera se diera terminada en la vuelta 293 (cuando quedaban agendadas 41 vueltas para final), cuando la lluvia apareció. Edwards era el piloto participante de la Caza por la Copa más rezagado antes de la carrera, al quedar 36º en Martinsville, y octavo en la posiciones de esta ronda, a 32 puntos del cuarto clasificado y último cupo a Homestead, . Pero con esta victoria, Edwards acompañará a Jimmie Johnson en la final en Homestead.

Segundo finalizó , quién lideró 178 de las 293 vueltas, pero no pudo llevarse la victoria y asegurar su participación en la lucha por el título en Homestead. Los cinco primeros lugares lo completaron Martin Truex Jr.,  y .

De esta forma y a falta de una fecha para el final de la tercera etapa, Logano y Kyle Busch estarían logrando los dos cupos restantes para la final con 4074 puntos, pero con un punto de ventaja sobre  y dos sobre . En tanto, los dos pilotos de ,  y  completan la tabla, a 18 y 34 puntos del corte, respectivamente.

Por otro lado, el polesitter,  estuvo entre los primeras posiciones, pero se vio involucrado en un accidente, al ser tocado por Harvick, dejándolo en la posición 37.

La próxima y última fecha de la Ronda de 8, será en  el 13 de noviembre.