Long Pond, Pa. ? Carl Edwards won Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway, gambling with a pit strategy that he thought would cost him the victory.

Edwards pitted from the lead just before a rain shower that caused a 41-minute red flag and had the driver arguing with crew chief Bob Osborne over the decision. But the plan worked perfectly as the race wound up going to completion. Edwards stretched his last tank of fuel to earn his fourth victory of the season.

“I was really nervous that we made the wrong call there,” Edwards said after doing his traditional victory backflip off his car. “Bob’s the smartest guy in the world. We were really arguing. We made light of it, but we thought we made the wrong call.”

The race started in sunshine, and it appeared Mark Martin, who took the lead from pole-winner Jimmie Johnson at the start and took control, would be the driver to beat all day. But Martin had problems on two pit stops that put him back into the pack.