Edwards nudges past Busch for win at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- For the second consecutive Sprint Cup race, Carl Edwards beat Kyle Busch when it counted.

Executing an adroit bump and run on Lap 470, Edwards passed for the lead and pulled away over the final 30 laps Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, winning the Sharpie 500 by 1.969 seconds over Busch (watch video).

"It's one of those deals where I couldn't get by him, I couldn't get by him, and I just had to ask myself, 'Would he do that to me?' Edwards said after doing his trademark backflip off the car in Victory Lane. "And he has before, so that's the way it goes.''

With the victory, his sixth of the season and the 13th of his career, Edwards secured a position in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and trimmed Busch's bonus points margin to 30. Unhappy with the way Edwards passed him for the lead, Busch bumped Edwards' No. 99 Ford after the checkered flag.

"He hit me getting into Turn 1,'' Busch said. "Whatever. Carl's going to say he's sorry, that he didn't want to race that way, but he always does. We'll take it, we'll go on and we'll race him that way in the Chase if that's the way he wants to race.''

Edwards bumped back, and Busch's No. 18 Toyota went spinning. To make matters worse, NASCAR summoned Busch to the sanctioning body's transporter after the race.

"Let's make it real clear -- I'm not apologizing for it," Edwards said, citing several instances where he felt like Busch took him out of races to gain positions. "We're even.

"They keep talking about rivalries,'' Edwards added. "We might have one now.''

Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon, as the third- through fifth-place finishers received much needed lifts as they attempt to lock up berths in the Chase.

On Lap 216, contact between the No. 5 Chevrolet of Casey Mears and the No. 55 Toyota of Michael Waltrip -- an accident Mears blamed on misinformation from his spotter -- ignited a multi-car wreck in Turn 1 that had significant implications for the Chase (watch video).

Running at the front of a large pack of cars, Mears moved up the track near the entrance to Turn 1 after being cleared by his spotter, clipped the nose of Waltrip's car and slammed into the outside wall. Unable to avoid the wreck, Clint Bowyer hit Mears with the right front of his Chevrolet but was able to continue. Bowyer rallied to finish seventh and move back into the top 12, 12 points ahead of 13th-place David Ragan, who finished 10th.

Kasey Kahne wasn't as lucky. Unable to dodge the melee in front of him, Kahne plowed into the middle of the wreck and ultimately retired from the race after attempts to repair his No. 9 Dodge proved fruitless.

"I like my spotter -- he's a good guy -- but, man, this is ridiculous," said Mears, who earlier in the day announced he had agreed to drive a fourth car for Richard Childress Racing next year. "We took a bunch of cars out for no reason. I was just running along, heard, 'Clear, clear, clear,' and went up -- and there was someone still there. We just took out a bunch of cars for no reason -- and ourselves."

The wreck did considerable damage to Kahne's Chase hopes, dropping him out of the top 12. Kahne fell three spots to 14th and trails Bowyer by 56 points.

"We had a good racecar, and it's a shame we got caught up in that mess," said Kahne, who finished 40th. "I just saw cars wrecking in front of me, and there was nothing I could do."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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