After falling from top 12, Bowyer chasing Edwards

Charlotte is celebrating the 50th anniversary of stock-car racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway. From the first race -- won by Joe Lee Johnson on June 19, 1960 -- through Race 100 -- won by Jeff Burton on Oct. 11, 2008 -- the legends of NASCAR have traversed the 1.50 ribbon of asphalt through sunshine as well as under the lights. On Sunday, the 43-car field will do both; green flag is at 6:03 p.m. ET and the checkered flag will fall well into the darkness.

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Eleven races into the Sprint Cup Series season the point standings are beginning to shake out. Front-runner Jeff Gordon holds a 29-point advantage over Tony Stewart, while Kurt Busch is 55 points behind.

On the other end of the Race to the Chase spectrum, 12th-place Carl Edwards is seven points ahead of Clint Bowyer, who plummeted five positions after finishing 37th at Darlington -- his fifth consecutive finish outside the top 15.

"It's been real ugly," Bowyer admitted. "Our cars haven't been bad, we've just had terrible luck. We crashed out early at Talladega with one of the fastest cars I've ever had there and I got wrecked at Darlington. It was just a wrong place at the wrong time, bad luck thing.

"We probably gave up 250 points in two races and that's something that you just can't afford to do that this level. We're going to have to buckle down, get back after it and get that consistency back. Get the top-10s rolling again, then we can work on top-fives and go for the wins."

Bowyer will need a good run on Sunday to keep pace with Edwards, who has the second-best average finish at Charlotte among drivers on the entry list (Jimmie Johnson, 8.9).

Edwards is coming off his worst finish at Charlotte -- 33rd in October -- but he has two third-place runs, and he also finished fifth in the All-Star Race last weekend. "I learned lots of things in the All-Star race and think we've got something to build on for the 600," Edwards said.

"The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race of the year and it's one of the most fun races, because there is so much to it. It takes a great strategy, endurance, the driver, the car and especially the crew, because of the number of pit stops. It takes the entire team. It's one that I'm looking forward to, especially after a strong finish in the All-Star race."

Bowyer knows that 600 miles will be grueling but he's quick to add that running up front helps tick off the laps a bit more quickly. "It's tough, especially if your day isn't going well. If that's the case, it seems like it's never going to end. But if your day is going decent and you're running toward the front, then it's like any other race. Lowe's Motor Speedway is a fast track, so that helps. You get to the finish a lot quicker than you would if we ran 600 miles somewhere else.

"Racing on the dirt tracks back home you wouldn't come close to racing that distance in an entire season," he added. "That's what's mind boggling about this race. It really makes you realize just how long it is when you put it in that perspective."