Saturday, July 19 Gateway Int'l Raceway St. Louis, MO

Edwards Claims Second Home Win At Gateway


By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

MADISON, Ill. (July 19, 2008) – It took three days for Carl Edwards to get to Gateway International Raceway from his home in Columbia, Mo. – on a bicycle.

Once at the track, however, Edwards picked up his pace considerably for Saturday night’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race. In the final 55-lap green-flag run, Edwards’ No. 60 Ford streaked away from the No. 20 Toyota of Joey Logano, taking the checkered flag 6.877 seconds ahead of the 18-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing phenom.

“That was unbelievable,” said Edwards, who picked up his second win of the season and the 15th of his career to the delight of a strong contingent of supporters in the grandstands. “It’s unreal. There won’t be a guy tomorrow who has a better day than me. Thank you everybody up in the grandstands. Thanks a lot.”

“The 20 car has been great this year. Racing with them has been a challenge, but a fun one.”

The No. 20 Camry has nine victories this season with four drivers behind the wheel. Logano accounted for one of the wins, at Kentucky.

Jason Keller was third Saturday, posting his best finish since running second at Chicagoland in 2004. Jason Leffler was fourth, followed by Brad Keselowski, who recovered from a late-race accident to finish fifth. Rookie Landon Cassill ran sixth, a career best in the series.

Edwards was third for a restart on Lap 146 of the 200-lap race, chasing Leffler and seventh-place finisher James Buescher, both of whom had taken two tires under a caution caused by a wreck involving Keselowski and David Reutimann, who entered the race second and third, respectively, in the series standings.

With four new tires, however, Edwards soon ran down the two cars, passing Leffler for the lead on Lap 152. From that point he pulled away.

A pileup moments after a restart on Lap 116 wiped out a handful of strong cars and stopped the race for nearly 25 minutes. Scott Wimmer’s No. 29 Chevrolet spun into the Turn 2 wall after a tap from Cassill. The chain-reaction crash that followed also eliminated the cars of defending race winner Reed Sorenson, Mike Bliss and Steve Wallace.

“I think I saw the 5 (Cassill) get into somebody,” Bliss said after climbing from his car. “I was just hoping to get through it, but I didn’t.”

Cassill, whose Chevy survived the wreck with minimal damage, said side-by-side racing between Wimmer and Sorenson might have been responsible for the accident.

“I think the 29 (Wimmer) got a little loose with the 40 (Sorenson) outside of him,” Cassill said. “I didn’t mean to hit him.”

Notes: A partial power failure at a neighboring substation in East St. Louis, Ill., caused a brown-out at the speedway, knocking out power to infield facilities and the caution lights surrounding the track. Stadium lights were powered by a backup generator, and the race started on time, but a subsequent partial failure of inside lighting in Turns 1 and 2 prompted NASCAR to call a competition caution on Lap 71 to make sure conditions were safe. ... Series points leader Clint Bowyer finished eighth. ... Polesitter Jamie McMurray fell out with engine trouble after completing 152 laps and finished 27th.

Complete Race Results click here

Post-Race Point Standings click here

Schedule/Broadcast Times - AT*

Practice: Friday, July 18 (ESPN2 at 8 p.m.)

Qualifying: Saturday, July 19 (ESPN2 & TSN-alt at 6 p.m.)

Pre-Race: Saturday, July 19 (ESPN2 & TSN at 10 p.m.)

Race: Saturday, July 19 (ESPN2 & TSN at 10:30 p.m.)

*AT is one hour ahead of ET, i.e. if it's 2 p.m./AT - it's 1 p.m./ET...

Fast Facts

The Race: Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250
The Place: Gateway International Raceway
The Distance: 200 laps / 250 miles
TV: ESPN2 & TSN, 10 p.m. AT
Track Size: 1.25-mile oval
2007 Winner: Reed Sorenson
2007 Pole: Scott Wimmer
Schedule: Friday–Practice, 6-7:15 p.m.; Final Practice, 7:45-9 p.m. Saturday–Qualifying, 4:05 p.m.
Year To Date Results & Point Standings click here

Track Map

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Event Preview

• Cassill’s NASCAR “Growth Spurt” Began At Gateway...Rewind to last July when Landon Cassill (No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet) had just turned 18. With that birthday, he was eligible to step out as a test driver for Hendrick Motorsports’ Car of Tomorrow program and into his first NASCAR Nationwide Series ride at Gateway International Raceway, located five hours from his hometown in Cedar Rapids, Ia. He navigated his first race quite well, starting a surprising sixth but was caught up in an accident midway through and although he finished, was disappointed with the final outcome in front of family and friends. But in the year since, Cassill’s direction has pointed toward improvement — and success. He makes his series return this week following a one-race layoff that was proceeded by the longest consecutive race streak (five) of his career. In that span, Cassill, who turned 19 on July 7, posted two top-10 finishes and also registered his first career pole. Now driving for the merged JR Motorsports-Hendrick team, Cassill has had the opportunity to learn from some of the best NASCAR has to offer. His teammates include two-time series champion Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mark Martin, the all-time series leader in wins and poles, two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 1994 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion David Green who earlier served as Cassill’s spotter. Cassill knows he’s grown as a driver over the last year and realizes there’s room for more. “I feel like I have a higher level of confidence then I did a year ago,” he said. “I’ll be better next year than I was this year, too.”
• Budding Rivals Keselowski, Logano Back On Track At Gateway...The second half of the NASCAR Nationwide Series stand-alone season traditionally kicks off at Gateway International Raceway. And this year, so does a rivalry. Joey Logano (No. 20 GameStop Toyota) is back after a three-race hiatus that saw the No. 20 bring home two wins in those three races. Logano’s first four series starts resulted in a win, two poles, two top–five and three top-10 finishes. His entry into the series has coincided with one of the best spans of Brad Keselowski’s (No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet) career. During the four races where each driver has been on the track, their stats are almost identical. Keselowski, 24, has one win, one pole, two top fives and four top-10s in those four races and has moved into second in the standings. He has the edge in Average Finishes (5.0 to 10.0) but Logano, 18, sports a 4.5 Average Starting Position to Keselowski’s 5.3. Gateway is a fairly even track for the two drivers to get back at it. It will be Logano’s first series start there and Keselowski finished a disappointing 26th in his track debut at the 1.25-mile oval last year.
• Scenic Route: Edwards Bikes It From Hometown to Gateway...Carl Edwards doesn’t handle down time well. So this open week on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule affords the always-active Edwards time to fit in activities he normally wouldn’t. Ahead of Saturday night’s race at Gateway, he plans on riding his bike along the Katy Trail from his hometown in Columbia, Mo., to St. Louis, the headquarters for his car sponsor, Save-A-Lot. Edwards is scheduled to finish off the estimated 190-mile, five-day trek at the Madison, Ill.-based track where he’ll begin preparations for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. He’ll be joined by his trainer, his motor coach driver Tom Giacchi and a few hometown friends on the ride that, according to Edwards, “Is organic. It doesn’t have an itinerary.”
• Most Popular Driver Pulls Over 38,000 Votes In First Week...For the first time in its 27-year history, voting for the Most Popular Driver award in the NASCAR Nationwide Series is in the hands of the fans on NASCAR.com. And the fans have responded. In the initial week of voting, which began July 5 following the season’s halfway point, 38,171 votes had been tabulated. The initial week of voting began on July 5 following the season's halfway point, and 38,171 votes had been tabulated. In previous years, the award had been determined by a ballot in NASCAR Insider Magazine, the official NASCAR Membership publication. Most Popular Driver online voting on NASCAR.com is also available for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Voting for the NASCAR Camping World Series East and West, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Southern Modified Tour, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and NASCAR Mexico Series is available via nascarhometracks.com. Balloting for each series ends on different dates in September and October.
• The Director’s Take: Gateway’s Unique Shape Will Challenge Teams...“This stand-alone event, coupled with a weekend off for NASCAR Sprint Cup and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racing earlier Saturday, gives our series regulars the national spotlight,” said Joe Balash, NASCAR Nationwide Series director. And that spotlight will shine directly on one of the most unique tracks in the series. “Gateway is an egg-shaped oval that’s very individual in its design,” he said. “It’s a driver’s track that will leave some crew chiefs scratching their heads trying to figure out where to make the car better yet not take away from the car on other parts of the track. “It will definitely be a battle of compromise and balance — to find the right combination to make the car fast at both ends of the track and manage the many differences it presents.”

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.