Carl Edwards made his first Southern 500 start one to remember Sunday at Darlington. Credit: Autostock

Daring move by Edwards turns heads at Darlington

Near-miss on Johnson nearly leads to Southern 500 win

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- For all the oohs and aahs generated by Carl Edwards' late charge in Sunday's Southern 500, there was a slight feeling of disbelief to it all.

Edwards, making his first Nextel Cup start at Darlington in the final Southern 500, put on a show to remember.

Southern 500 Videos Busch banged up Kurt Busch, in need of a pit stop, is saved as the caution flies Waltrip wrecks Todd Bodine gets loose and Michael Waltrip hits him Hard hit Dale Jarrett gets loose and hits the wall hard Blown engine Ryan Newman's engine expires on Lap 331 Final laps Jimmie Johnson beats Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon to the checkers Victory Lane Jimmie Johnson celebrates a Darlington sweep

With less than 30 laps remaining, Edwards pulled up on the rear deck of leader Jimmie Johnson did everything he could to get the top spot away for several laps.

At one point, he flew past Johnson going into Turn 1 and nearly slammed the wall, only to see Johnson slide by on the inside and retake the lead.

"In my lifetime I haven't had many chances to win a Southern 500, so I wasn't going to let it go without trying everything I knew how to try," Edwards said upon climbing from his Ford. "I was a little ugly there in front of Jimmie into Turn 1, but I guess ugly is acceptable at that point.

"I hope he's not mad about that. I was like 'oooh, oooh, I'm going to knock the wall down,' but it was fun."

Johnson was impressed by Edwards' effort.

"Man, that was pretty spectacular, in my eyes," Johnson said after the race. "I don't know if he hit the wall or not. I was trying to get by a lapped car and I saw in the mirror that Carl was coming, but I had no idea he was going to make that move.

"I knew something big was going to happen if I didn't slow down. I saw him fly by and got the car turned and pointed down to the inside and got back by him, but that's probably one of the bravest moves I've ever seen thus far in my career. I give him a lot of credit for it, because he didn't hit anything."

Carl Edwards finished seventh Sunday at Darlington. Credit: Autostock

Racing with Johnson, who went on to win his eighth race of the season and accomplish a season sweep at Darlington, Edwards still thought he had the opportunity to win.

"I thought, 'we can do this, we can win this race,' but he's [Johnson] an unbelievable race car driver," Edwards said. "It's just really neat to get to race with these guys and I hope to race with them for a long time, That's my goal."

Johnson said that was pretty much a done deal.

"I think everybody's going to be talking a lot about Carl Edwards as time goes on," he said. "He does a great job."

When the caution came out for Ryan Newman's blown engine with 37 laps to go, Edwards came off pit road second behind Johnson. He began knocking on Johnson's trunk lid when it went back to green and was putting some fear into Johnson. Coming off pit road, he was second behind Johnson, and soon thereafter, he made his banzai move into Turn 1.

Southern 500 •   Unofficial Results •   Unofficial Standings •   Lap by Lap

The last caution of the day proved Edwards' undoing, as an air pressure adjustment went the wrong way and he finished seventh.

It was his fifth top-10 finish in 12 Nextel Cup starts.

Edwards finished fourth Saturday night in the Darlington 200 Craftsman Truck Series race. His performance Sunday completed what he said was a great weekend.

"It was a lot of fun," he said. "We set a track record in our Superchips Truck and World Financial Group, that was a big deal for them to be on this car. We need a sponsor full-time for next year or we won't be running this thing fulltime."