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Three Amigos: Edwards, Busch and Hornaday all sported cowboy hats in Victory Lane.

Battles for championships get closer as season ends

Busch ties Ard with 10th victory in Nationwide season

By NASCAR.COM
November 3, 2008
04:43 PM EST

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A recap of the NASCAR tripleheader from Texas:

Figuratively speaking

69 -- Laps that Carl Edwards ran on his final tank of fuel to win Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Two of his teammates who were running in the top five could only make it 54 laps (Jamie McMurray) and 55 laps (Greg Biffle) and had to pit for fuel with less than 15 laps to go.

Cup Series

Pit Crew of the Week

No 48. Chevrolet: Who else? Crew chief Chad Knaus called for a two-tire stop and air-pressure adjustment on Lap 200 and the 48 car was first out of the pits, marking a 12-spot improvement. Jimmie Johnson led his first laps of the race and from there coasted to the title.

Tip of the Week

Radiators are often ignored. Yet keeping engines cool and running in the right temperature range is critical to taking the heat off your engine.

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Race
Lineup | Results | Standings | Central

• Carl Edwards spent the past week insisting the Chase for the Sprint Cup isn't over. Maybe he's right. Squeezing 69 laps out of his last tank of fuel at 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, Edwards slowed his speed to a relative crawl in the closing laps of Sunday's Dickies 500 and rolled across the finish line 8.31 seconds ahead of Jeff Gordon, who also stretched his fuel mileage.
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Qualifying
• If Jeff Gordon needed a change of pace to break the spell of his last disastrous tango with Texas Motor Speedway, he found it Friday afternoon. Gordon covered the 1.5-mile distance in 28.652 seconds (188.469 mph) to win the pole for Sunday's Dickies 500 Sprint Cup race, a good start toward erasing the memory of a 43rd-place finish at TMS in April.
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Also check out:
• Johnson finally runs out of great escapes
• Edwards turning Chase into two-man show
• Gilliland parked for rough driving with Montoya
• Same strategies, differing results for 24, 88
• McMurray continues late surge with a top-10

Nationwide Series

Race
Lineup | Results | Standings | Central

• Statistically, Kyle Busch is moving into rarified air, and on Saturday his generosity went there, too. With defending Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards chasing him to the finish line in the 200-lap, 300-mile O'Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch won his 10th Nationwide race of 2008, tying Sam Ard's 1983 series record for wins in a season.
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Qualifying
• Carl Edwards continued his march toward closing the gap to points leader Clint Bowyer by claiming the pole for the O'Reilly Challenge with a lap of 188.101 mph around Texas Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick qualified second in his own car (186.587), followed by Bobby Hamilton Jr., Kyle Busch and David Stremme.

Truck Series

Race
Lineup | Results | Standings | Central

• Ron Hornaday overcame an ill-timed caution to win Friday night's Chevy Silverado 350K Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and trim third-place finisher Johnny Benson's lead in the series standings to six points.
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Qualifying
• In a 34-truck field, Rick Crawford earned the pole for the Chevy Silverado 350K with a lap of 178.826 mph at Texas Motor Speedway. His lap beat Cale Gale (178.778), Kyle Busch (178.183) and Travis Kvapil (178.071). Max Papis qualified fifth for the race.

Survey says ...

Carl Edwards gambled to win at Texas, his second consecutive victory with just two races remaining in the season. He cut Jimmie Johnson's lead to 106 points. NASCAR.COM asked: Has the Chase momentum shifted in Carl Edwards' favor?

Answer	Votes	Pct.

Yes, he's going to win it	8,183	22%
Yes, but it comes too late	15,521	42%
No, it was Johnson's mulligan	9,244	25%
No, Johnson by a landslide	3,692	10%

Off the Marx

Bill Marx of the Sporting News Wire Service weighs in with his top 10:

Pos.	Driver	Need to know ...

1.	Carl Edwards	Two wins in row. How can Edwards not be No. 1?
2.	Jimmie Johnson	Johnson never could get the lucky dog, but his 15th-place finish averted disaster.
3.	Greg Biffle	Solid fifth puts Biffle down 140 points with two races to go.
4.	Jeff Burton	Finishes ahead of Johnson -- barely.
5.	Jeff Gordon	Second-place finish runs Gordon's top-10 streak to four races, the longest current streak in the Cup Series.
6.	Matt Kenseth	Another top-10, but it's too late.
7.	Clint Bowyer	Bowyer's sixth top-five is a career-high.
8.	Kyle Busch	At least Busch is competitive again. He has a fourth, fifth and sixth in the past four races.
9.	Kevin Harvick	Still steady after all these races. No wins but very steady.
10.	David Ragan	Gets sixth consecutive top-15. Finishing the season very strong.