Carl Edwards had his hopes for an improbable run at removing Jimmie Johnson from the top of the Sprint Cup world dashed Sunday night at Phoenix International Raceway, and none of it was it his own doing.
Edwards can solely blame that one on Johnson for having the most dominating car at the Phoenix-area track, leading the most laps and taking home his third-straight win at PIR. All of that success for Johnson meant a hole of 141 points for Edwards as the series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday for the final race.
In other words, the NASCAR world can ultimately turn next weekend's race into a salute to the incredible history Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team is making, because Edwards has next to zero chances of overcoming those odds.
The road to Johnson's win Sunday took quite a while thanks to two separate red flag periods that ultimately caused ABC to switch the race broadcast to ESPN2 -- likely angering many fans who don't have cable. What they missed didn't necessarily affect the Top-5 running order but it did affect driver relations.
First, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle had a minor on-track bumping scuffle, as did Paul Menard and Jeff Burton. Then, A.J. Allmendinger got into turn one too hot underneath Matt Kenseth and spun the No. 17 and Tony Stewart. Kenseth wasn't too happy and exacted revenge on Allmendinger as they came to the checkered flag, causing Allmendinger to collect Juan Pablo Montoya, Stewart, and a host of other cars in a worthless, unintentional move that many race cars mangled.
Behind Johnson, Kurt Busch tried to pass the No. 48 on a final green-white-checkered sprint to the finish but couldn't quite get to the No. 48. Jamie McMurray led 28 laps early in the race and wound up third, Edwards finished a notable fourth after battling track position all day and Denny Hamlin scored the fifth-place finish.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who never had a car to challenge Johnson but was solid all day, finally turned in a consistent run with a sixth-place finish and Kevin Harvick was seventh. Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and David Ragan rounded out the Top-10.
Jeff Gordon appeared to have a car that might have challenged Johnson if not a Top-3 finish early in the race until engine troubles relegated him to a 40th-place finish after running around for at least 100 laps on seven cylinders. Luckily for Johnson, those Hendrick engine problems were isolated to the No. 24.
Two wrecks were pretty notable during Sunday's race with the first involving Brian Vickers. The No. 83 had a mechanical problem in the rear-end as Vickers prepared to enter turn three and it sent Vickers slamming into the outside wall and out of the race.
Scott Speed and David Gilliland were involved in the other wreck that was more accurately described as quirky. Both drivers were part of a multi-car incident after Casey Mears spun in turn three and somehow Speed ran into Gilliland's rear-end hard enough to shove the No. 38's wheels off the ground and on top of Speed's windshield. Gilliland had to jump down out of his car to get out.
As for the point standings that Johnson now has such a commanding hold on, the No. 48 leads Edwards by 141 points, by 203 over Greg Biffle, by 269 over Jeff Burton and by 328 over Kevin Harvick who jumped two spots.
