Edwards wins fuel gamble, but comes up short at end

LONG POND, Pa. -- As the long race that is the Pocono 500 rolled toward its conclusion Sunday at Pocono Raceway, Carl Edwards wanted to know only one thing from his crew chief, Bob Osborne.

Was he going to make it to the finish, or run out of gas?

As fine a crew chief as Osborne is, he couldn't give Edwards a straight answer.

Press Pass: Edwards

After a strong run in the Pocono 500, Carl Edwards is dissapointed that his team could not come away with the win.

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"He would tell me the best-case scenario was that we were going to be this many laps short, and the worst-case scenario we'd be this many short," Edwards said. "And I would be like, 'Well, which scenario is it?' Either way, it was like we were going to be short."

So Edwards took to conserving fuel as much as he could over the final laps, until time was running out to make a run at race leader Tony Stewart. Then, with one lap left, Edwards cut loose and went after him.

It was too late. Stewart ended up holding him off and going to Victory Lane, while Edwards had to settle for second.

Edwards, who scored a Sprint Cup Series-high nine victories last season, has yet to win in 14 races this season. But when Jimmie Johnson ran out of fuel after getting side-by-side with him on the final lap, Edwards had a fleeting hope that Stewart was going to be the next one to come up short.

"Whatever he was doing worked. I didn't think he was going to make it, but Tony did a really good job," Edwards said. "I really didn't believe he was going to make it. I thought he was going to run out. Our fuel mileage was really good. I feel like we've got the best in the field with our Ford Fusion.

"Jimmie ran out when I thought he was going to run out and Tony just didn't." (Continued)