Bowyer, Edwards showing N'wide Series still relevant

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- They're running in front of much smaller crowds and receiving less media exposure these days, with the squeeze from the disappearance of sponsorship dollars magnified because it's even worse than in NASCAR's parent series on the Sprint Cup side.

But you have to give it to these Nationwide Series guys. They're putting on one heck of a show most weeks, and head to next Saturday's season finale in Homestead with a legitimate battle for the championship still intact.

Saturday's caution-filled Hefty Odor Block 200 at Phoenix International Raceway -- despite multiple wrecks and various mishaps that made it seem to drag on unbearably at times -- proved in the end to add to the drama (read more).

In case you haven't noticed, Sprint Cup is not the only series in which driver Carl Edwards is hot in pursuit of a championship. There was a brief moment during the race Saturday, in fact, when Edwards actually held the Nationwide points lead on Clint Bowyer by four points.

It didn't end up that way. With gobs of white tape adorning the smashed-in hood of his No. 2 Chevrolet as if that was all that was holding his championship hopes together, Bowyer relentlessly worked his way back through the field after an earlier wreck and in the end salvaged seemingly all he could (watch video).

Edwards won the race. What else is new?

But Bowyer held his own in the battle, and heads to Homestead in favorable position to win the war. He finished fourth after falling as far as 30th, and holds an advantage of 56 points going into the season finale.

A day earlier, Bowyer had been talking about what he had to do to hold off defending champion Edwards and win his first Nationwide championship. Coming into Saturday's event, Bowyer was nursing a 91-point lead.

"Just want to stay out of trouble," Bowyer said. "All we've got to do is keep doing what we've been doing all season long, keep from beating ourselves, and we'll be fine."

Trouble found

Of course, that would have been too easy for Bowyer. He found trouble in a big way on Lap 80, wrecking on a restart. When the fall-out from the incident was complete, Bowyer had fallen all the way to 30th in the race -- and to second for the moment in the points standings to Edwards, who was running second in the race at the time. (Continued)