June 18, 2007
By Ron Felix

Edwards Leads Truex * CIA Stock Photo

Carl Edwards broke a fifty-two race drought, not since November of 2005 has he graced Victory Lane. On Sunday at Michigan International Speedway he laid all that baggage to rest by winning the Citizen's Bank 400, his fifth career victory, which also coincided with his 100th NASCAR Nextel Cup race. It was at Michigan three years ago that Edwards first stepped into a Cup car. The win also allows his motorhome driver to shave off the beard that he vowed keep until Edwards won again. Little did he know it would be 18 months later.

"It feels unbelievable," said Edwards. "Yesterday we had a great Office Depot Fusion in practice. I felt really good about coming into today. Last night the Sharp Aquos Fusion was real fast in the Busch race and had a little adversity and we didn’t win the thing and we should’ve. It was tough to sleep last night, and then I got up this morning and Bob and I talked a little bit, and he convinced me to put that behind me and to go out and do a job. And then we sped on pit road one time and got put in the back, and our car was good enough that it made it back up to the front. And then at the end there, Martin Truex was just, I mean, he was amazingly fast, and Martin’s been on a roll lately so it was great to be able to beat him in, really, a head-to-head race. That meant a lot – especially for Ford here.”

The race looked like it was going to come down to a fuel mileage race, some drivers were running out as the race ended and Jimmie Johnson was out of gas with nine laps left. The win was the 16th career NASCAR victory at MIS for car owner Jack Roush.

"We’ve just got great cars," Jack Roush said. "The Ford Fusion is really super. Ford has given us every technical support, they’ve given us all the money that we’ve asked for to help us put in equipment and be competitive with the other manufacturers are doing with their other teams. They deserve more; I’m just embarrassed that it took us this long to really celebrate with Carl and the guys. This Father’s Day it’s great to be here with my family – my son, Jack, is here, with two of my granddaughters, we’re enjoying them. I hope that all the fathers and all the families around the country that watched the race today are as happy about being with their families as I am with mine.”

Martin Truex Jr. finished a strong second place. He led a total 54 laps before falling victim to Edwards. But Truex was putting the pressure on Edwards in the closing laps but ran out of tires at the end. Tony Stewart, who started in the 41st spot on the grid, finished third, still jawing about how good his car could have been had David Gilliland not run into him in Saturday's final practice session. Casey Mears finished fourth followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip to round out the top ten.

There were twenty-two lead changes among eleven different drivers. There were four cautions for a total of nineteen laps. The Nextel Cup Series moves to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California next Sunday for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. The race will be televised on TNT and is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.

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