Dale Earnhardt jr. taps Edwards for the win at MIS
With two laps to go at MIS, Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped Carl Edwards from behind after Edwards car got loose coming out of turn 2. The spin propelled Dale Jr. into the lead followed by Casey Mears (#42 car) and Robby Gordon (#88 car). Carl Edwards, pulled one of his familiar retaliation moves by veering off of pit road right into the side of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #8 car. After the race Carl Edwards said he was just trying to tell Dale Jr. that he wasn’t happy with him for bumping him with 2 laps to go.
I fully expect NASCAR to penalize Edwards like they did when he spun Tony Stewart a couple of races ago in the Nextel Cup Series. But, with NASCAR you can never be sure of them giving out penalties. However, NASCAR called Earnhardt, Gordon and Edwards to the NASCAR hauler for a talk, regarding the incident with two laps to go.
Despite the incident that was clearly caused by the contact from Dale Jr., NASCAR declared Earbhardt the winner. When Earnhardt arrived at Victory Lane and got out of the car, he was greeted to a mixture of cheers and boos, but mostly cheers.
Carl Edwards, who was visibly upset when he got out of his car, but he handled the post race interview. He really doesn’t have a whole lot of room to talk, he himself has bumped competitors out of his way to win a race. Now, I am not saying he doesn’t have the right to be upset, but he needs to do a better job or remembering what he has done in the past.
It looked liked Robby Gordon was going to get collected up by the spinning Carl Edwards, but fortunately for Gordon he was able to gather the race car and finish third just behind the hard charging Casey Mears. The spin put Carl Edwards back into 23rd and it caused Edwards to drop one spot in the Busch Series points standing.
Kevin Harvick, who is the current points leader managed a 8th place finish and is 484 points ahead of Denny Hamlin and 486 points ahead of 3rd place Carl Edwards.
Robby Gordon, a fill in driver for JR Motorsports #88, after Mark McFarland was pulled from the car after last weeks poor finish. Shane Huffman will be driving the #88 car for the rest of the season, but because he wasn’t cleared by NASCAR to drive on Super speedways, he wasn’t able to race this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.
Top 10 Finishers
| 1. | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevy |
| 2. | Casey Mears | Dodge |
| 3. | Robby Gordon | Chevy |
| 4. | Matt Kenseth | Ford |
| 5. | Mark Martin | Ford |
| 6. | Denny Hamlin | Chevy |
| 7. | Reed Sorenson | Dodge |
| 8. | Kevin Harvick | Chevy |
| 9. | J.J. Yeley | Chevy |
| 10. | Jeff Burton |
