Edwards wins at Phoenix to delay title celebration

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Carl Edwards won Saturday's Able Body Labor 200 to postpone Kyle Busch's formal Nationwide Series championship clinching party for one week.

But Busch still had cause for celebration. With a 190-point lead entering next Saturday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch needs merely to start the Ford 300 to claim his first title in one of NASCAR's top three national touring series.

Able Body Labor 200

Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Carl Edwards	Ford
2.	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
3.	Reed Sorenson	Toyota
4.	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet
5.	Brad Keselowski	Chevrolet
6.	David Ragan	Ford
7.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
8.	Mike Bliss	Toyota
9.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
10.	Steve Wallace	Chevrolet

• Complete Results | Photos

Race Video

• Final Laps: Phoenix
• Victory Lane: Edwards
• Post-race Reactions
• Kenseth denies Busch
• BK, Hamlin renew rivalry
• Busch wrecks early

Saturday's race also fanned the smoldering rivalry between pole-sitter Denny Hamlin and fifth-place finisher Brad Keselowski into full flame.

"That's 25 -- 25 [career Nationwide] wins," said Edwards, who beat runner-up Kevin Harvick to the finish line by 2.415 seconds. "I know Kyle's almost clinched the championship, but that's what we came here to do, to win this race."

Reed Sorenson ran third in Todd Braun's No. 32 Toyota, followed by Clint Bowyer and Keselowski.

Busch's clinching prospects were in jeopardy early in the race, after he spun the No. 18 Toyota off Turn 2 in front of Clint Bowyer's No. 29 Chevrolet on Lap 7. Busch tagged the outside wall with the right rear of his car and the inside wall with the left front.

Busch's team worked on the car on pit road and got Busch back on the track before he lost a lap. After restarting 35th, Busch worked his way to 12th in the running order by Lap 30 of 200. Busch ran as high as fourth before the final caution but faded to ninth at the finish.

With Edwards winning and leading the most laps, Busch needed to finish seventh or better to lock up the title.

Asked about the early race spin, Busch gave a terse explanation.

"I was driving a bucket of [expletive]," he said.

Keselowski and Hamlin had a lot more to say after the race, thanks to the Lap 157 incident that started with Hamlin bumping Keselowski and ducking beneath him. Keselowski retaliated in the corner and turned Hamlin's No. 20 Toyota.

Hamlin kept the car off the wall but had to pit and restarted at the back of the field on Lap 164. He finished 12th.

"On the last restart there, Denny got into the back of me and pushed me up the track," Keselowski said. "I was going to return the favor. When he did it to me, I saved it. When I did it to him, he didn't save it. We just got into a pushing match. I don't really don't hold any grudges. I don't know why he wanted to do that. But whatever, that's just how racing is, I guess.

"To me, I was over it. I'm focused on running the No. 88 Junior Motorsports car and trying to run up front, chase down Carl [in the standings] and finish second in points. I haven't put a lot of thought into [the rivalry], but apparently he has."

Hamlin implied he'd have a shot at revenge in next Saturday's race.

"I can sit here and bash him for the next 20 seconds or so and give you all a bunch of sound bites," Hamlin said, "but I'm just happy that I signed up for next week's Nationwide race, and you know in turn, there's a lot of guys that owe him. There's a lot of guys that have a lot of chips that they're going to cash in, I'm just going to be the first to the pay window.''

Later on, after Hamlin spoke to NASCAR president Mike Helton, the two drivers had what USA Today reporter Nate Ryan described as an animated but civil discussion.

Video
• Hamlin, Keselowski, Busch react to incident

Related
• Edwards to continue full-time Nationwide slate