Edwards continues NASCAR sizz

Driver wins for second straight week, takes Dickies 500

? Carl Edwards gambled on a late pit stop for tires, charged from sixth to first in 11 laps and won for the second straight week.

The 26-year-old Roush Racing wunderkind is accomplishing things a driver with his limited experience isn’t supposed to – like thrusting himself into the midst of NASCAR’s Chase for the championship with two races left.

Edwards told his team during the stop that if it could get him back out on the track in the top six, he could win it.

“All night the car had been awesome on the restarts,” Edward said. “The last restart it was really good, and I just felt like as long as they could get us out in sixth or better, no matter what happened, I just felt really comfortable for some reason.”

Edwards, who was racing in the Craftsman Truck Series before being promoted to Cup midway through 2004 by team owner Jack Roush, would not be denied Sunday, passing Mark Martin for the lead two laps from the end of the Dickies 500.

Meanwhile, Tony Stewart had a solid if unspectacular day. The 2002 champion finished sixth and saw his lead in the Chase for the championship drop from 43 points to just 38 over Jimmie Johnson, who managed to pass Stewart two laps from the end and finish fifth. Edwards jumped from a tie for fourth in the Chase, 107 points behind, to sole possession of third, 77 behind Stewart.

Debris brought out the sixth and final caution flag of the 334-lap race on lap 319, and both Edwards, who was leading, and fifth-place Stewart pitted for right-side tires, while Martin and several other leaders stayed on track.

Edwards was sixth when the green flag came back out on lap 323. He got caught in traffic for a while, then quickly moved to third, passed teammate Matt Kenseth for second on lap 330 and erased a 12-car length lead by Martin before passing him on the outside coming off turn two on the 1.5-mile oval on lap 333.

Greg Biffle, who started the day third, led early in the race before losing a lap when he pitted with a vibration.

He never recovered, finishing 20th and slipping to fourth in the standings, 122 points behind. Martin moved up to sixth, one point behind teammate Biffle and 12 ahead of Kenseth, who finished third and gave the powerful Roush team its third 1-2-3 finish of the season.