Edwards’ bold bump gets win at Richmond

richmond, va.» Carl Edwards bumped Kyle Busch off his racing line in the last turn and passed him to win the Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway on Sunday. Edwards, who had fallen nearly 1.5 seconds behind his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate after a restart with 36 laps to go, gradually ran him down until the final lap. Then he slipped underneath Busch, a master blocker in late-race situations, and nudged him just enough to get inside him for his second consecutive victory. It also was the fourth in a row for the Gibbs stable, and fifth in nine races.

“Kyle’s an amazing teammate and it’s like he got really slow there at the end,” Edwards said. “Something happened that last lap, it’s like his rear tires went off or something, and he went down into Turn 1 and I dove it in and I got to him, and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got something here.’ Then he went to get down to the bottom to park it in three and four and I’d already decided to go down there, so I thought, ‘Man, I’m going to give him a little nudge.’

“We’ve both got wins. We’re racing for fun and getting these trophies. Just an awesome day.”

Busch seemed less than amused after being denied his third victory in the last four races on NASCAR’s premier circuit.

“We just kind of gave it up a little bit there on the last lap, but I guess that’s racing and we move on,” Busch said.

How Martin Truex Jr. fared

• Driving for Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, Truex finished ninth in the Sprint Cup race Sunday at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway after starting in the No. 22 slot.

• Truex was in the top 10 for the first time after a green-flag pit stop on the 87th of the 400 laps. He stayed in or near the top 10 until he reported a loose right-rear wheel after stopping for four tires on Lap 262. The loose wheel — caused by a jammed lug nut — forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop. That pushed him back to 20th place, but he rebounded to finish in the top 10.

• “The guys in the pits made a good recovery when we needed it most,” Truex said. “We battled as a team to collect a top 10. Everyone was fighting the slippery track. Great for the fans, but for the drivers it was a challenge.”