Edwards takes Cup win at Atlanta

Edwards swept the NASCAR weekend, having won on Saturday at Memphis in the Nationwide Series.

He passed Denny Hamlin for the lead on the penultimate restart and was unchallenged from then on after being a contender all day, leading the race for the first time on lap 45.

He wasn't as dominant as he had been on Saturday at Memphis, but a good final stop boosted his chances of victory and he ran best when it mattered most.

"Man, the second-to-last restart, Denny spun his tyres and I spun mine a little bit and then he spun them again. I pushed his bumper, then he spun them again and he went to the inside," said Edwards about the move that won him the race.

"I thought inside, 'Man, here's my chance to get to the outside,' I really didn't think he was going to spin them that second time. I thought I was going to bump him and he was going to keep on going. I figured I'd follow him for a while, but it just worked out great."

But even if Edwards enjoyed his moment of glory, it was Jimmie Johnson who caught all the attention in the last few laps of the race.

The reigning champion had gone a lap down early on after speeding on pit road and serving his penalty during green flag conditions.

He got the free pass to get his lap back during the fourth caution of the race and, although for a while it looked like he wouldn't be able to get back in contention for a strong finish, he slowly made progress back up into the top ten.

On the last caution of the day, Johnson pitted for four new tyres from eighth place and restarted 11th with only eight laps to go as the leading car on new rubber. Lap by lap, he picked off cars, making the most of his superior grip, and passed Hamlin for second place on the last lap of the race.

Had there been a green-white-chequered finish, it would have been tough for Edwards to fend off Johnson's charge.

"Man, I felt like I went 12 rounds with Tyson today," Johnson said. "That was a long, long race for us. I made that mistake getting onto pit road I guess. Somewhere I was speeding and had to do that pass-through on green flag conditions. It just killed us.

"We just fought back from that all day long. We could make up some ground, but we could only get to seventh, sixth, something like that. The cars were all pretty equal in front of us on speed. We just kind of hung there and couldn't go anywhere.

"(Crew chief) Chad (Knaus) call for tyres at the end really paid off. We were able to make up a lot of ground and get a good finish out of today."

Johnson's finish increased his lead in the points to 183 with only three races left. He only needs to average tenth or better in the remaining races to be crowned as champion for the third year in a row, regardless of what happens to Edwards, who moved up to second in the Chase.

Hamlin was third in the end ahead of Matt Kenseth, who led the most laps during the day and looked dominant while running in clean air, but lost out on the last pit stop and couldn't get back up front again.

"We were good all day," Kenseth said. "It's just that in this day and age of racing, you can take a pretty good car, put it in the front and think you've got the best car in the world. Then you put it in second and you've got a pretty average top-five or top-ten car. It's just really frustrating."

Kyle Busch rounded out the top five but didn't look anywhere near as strong as he was back in March when he scored Toyota's maiden Cup win at Atlanta. He didn't lead a lap all day but was still able to beat brother Kurt, who finished sixth after running consistently in the top five for the second half of the race.

Jamie McMurray and David Ragan completed a good day for Roush Fenway Racing finishing seventh and eighth ahead of Jeff Gordon. Greg Biffle rounded out the top ten but dropped to third in the title race, just two points behind his teammate Edwards in what is shaping up as the battle for the runner-up spot in the championship.

Jeff Burton didn't enjoy a very good day either, finishing 18th after being hit by a pit road penalty for speeding and some contact during a late stop with Ken Schrader's car. He was later involved in an incident when he tangled with Dave Blaney with 12 laps to go, causing a multi-car wreck.

His teammate Clint Bowyer was another one making contact in the pits during the penultimate caution, colliding with Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian was leaving his stall and got hit by Bowyer's passing car, causing heavy damage to the right front corner of his Dodge.

Montoya ran consistently in the top ten and was fifth when the incident happened. He was trying to make a similar strategic move to the one Johnson did in the following caution period, but his challenge for a top finish was over on the spot. He rejoined the race on the lead lap but got caught in Burton's incident later.

Sam Hornish Jr was the highest finishing rookie in 24th, while Scott Speed led his first laps in Sprint Cup by staying out while the leaders pitted during the second caution of the day. He eventually finished five laps down in 34th place.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Carl Edwards        Ford        325
 2.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   325
 3.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota      325
 4.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        325
 5.  Kyle Busch          Toyota      325
 6.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       325
 7.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        325
 8.  David Ragan         Ford        325
 9.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   325
10.  Greg Biffle         Ford        325
11.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   325
12.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   325
13.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   325
14.  A.J. Allmendinger   Dodge       325
15.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   325
16.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       325
17.  Tony Stewart        Toyota      325
18.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   325
19.  Robby Gordon        Dodge       324
20.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   324
21.  Brian Vickers       Toyota      324
22.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet   323
23.  Travis Kvapil       Ford        323
24.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge       323
25.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       323
26.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       323
27.  David Gilliland     Ford        323
28.  David Reutimann     Toyota      323
29.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota      323
30.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet   322
31.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   322
32.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   322
33.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       320
34.  Scott Speed         Toyota      320
35.  Ken Schrader        Toyota      320
36.  Chad McCumbee       Dodge       319
37.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      317
38.  Bill Elliott        Ford        316
39.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       316
40.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       302
41.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      301
42.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   296
43.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet   197

Chase For The Cup - Points Standing:

Pos  Driver              Change  Points
 1.  Jimmie Johnson               6248
 2.  Carl Edwards          +2     6065  +183
 3.  Greg Biffle           -1     6063  +185
 4.  Jeff Burton           -1     6030  +218
 5.  Kevin Harvick         +1     5941  +307
 6.  Jeff Gordon           +1     5936  +312
 7.  Clint Bowyer          -2     5934  +314
 8.  Tony Stewart                 5847  +401
 9.  Matt Kenseth          +1     5835  +413
10.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     -1     5829  +419
11.  Denny Hamlin                 5823  +425
12.  Kyle Busch                   5783  +465