Edwards wins Nationwide at Milwaukee

Edwards made the trip all the way from California, where he will compete on Sunday in the Sprint Cup Series race at Infineon Raceway, to Milwaukee, and from the green flag at the start he rapidly made progress.

Without any practice and on his first weekend with his new crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, he was able to charge through the field to put himself in contention for victory, moving up to second after a quick stop during one of the late cautions of the race.

However, closely following him since the early laps was his fellow Sprint Cup rival Clint Bowyer, who was also coming from the back of the field and passed him for the lead with 38 laps to go following a restart.

Thirteen laps later and just after another restart, Edwards made an aggressive move on the inside of Bowyer, made contact with him and took the lead of the race and never surrendered it, to drive his car into Victory Lane for the first time in his last 37 series starts.

"I didn't want to pass Clint that way, I got under him and hit him," said Edwards, who refused to make his trademark backflip after taking the chequered flag for that reason and also as a mark of respect to drag racer Scott Kalitta who was killed on Saturday afternoon.

"It's just kind of a sad day but it's a great day for our team and to get our car in Victory Lane."

"It's good to be back. My team never gave up, my fans never gave up on me and I know it's tough times right now and we're all doing the best we can. It feels good to win a race again."

Edwards' incident with Bowyer dropped the RCR driver down to third place, which is where he eventually finished the race, allowing him to increase his lead in the drivers' standing although that wasn't enough to make up for his disappointment.

"I'm not OK with that," said a furious Bowyer after finishing the race. "I just didn't expect that from him. We've been pretty good friends for a while and always raced each other hard and clean."

Joey Logano continued to impress, taking second in just his fourth Nationwide Series start and keeping Edwards on his toes for the last 20 laps. The 18-year-old wasn't happy to have to settle for second though, especially after being expected to sit out the next three races.

"We were good there at the long haul," Logano said. "Our car wasn't the best on new tyres until they got warm. I guess it's nice taking a second place after a win. We'd like to be in Victory Lane again but I guess we have to take it."

Brad Keselowski led most of the way and looked set for his second win of the season having started from his first-ever Nationwide Series pole.

However with 79 laps remaining Joey Logano made a wild dive on the inside of him, got loose and ran into the side of his car damaging Keselowski's left front fender and taking away not only his lead but also his pace. He eventually finished eighth.

David Ragan and David Reutimann, also making the trip from California, made their efforts worthwhile by crossing the finish line in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Pos  Driver              Make       Laps
 1.  Carl Edwards        Ford        250
 2.  Joey Logano         Toyota      250
 3.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   250
 4.  David Ragan         Ford        250
 5.  David Reutimann     Toyota      250
 6.  Scott Wimmer        Chevrolet   250
 7.  Mike Bliss          Chevrolet   250
 8.  Brad Keselowski     Chevrolet   250
 9.  Jason Keller        Chevrolet   250
10.  Jason Leffler       Toyota      250
11.  Kelly Bires         Ford        250
12.  Cale Gale           Chevrolet   250
13.  Mark Green          Chevrolet   250
14.  James Buescher      Toyota      250
15.  Bobby Hamilton Jr   Ford        250
16.  Marcos Ambrose      Ford        250
17.  Stanton Barrett     Chevrolet   250
18.  Mike Wallace        Toyota      250
19.  Steve Wallace       Chevrolet   250
20.  Bryan Clauson       Dodge       250
21.  Colin Braun         Ford        250
22.  Landon Cassill      Chevrolet   250
23.  Chase Miller        Dodge       248
24.  D.J. Kennington     Dodge       247
25.  Brad Coleman        Ford        247
26.  Kevin Lepage        Chevrolet   247
27.  Brian Keselowski    Dodge       246
28.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet   246
29.  Eric McClure        Chevrolet   244
30.  Brad Teague         Chevrolet   237
31.  Travis Kittleson    Chevrolet   219
32.  Mike Potter         Chevrolet   170
33.  Josh Wise           Dodge       164
34.  David Stremme       Chevrolet   154
35.  Jerick Johnson      Chevrolet    62
36.  Burney Lamar        Ford         58
37.  Morgan Shepherd     Dodge        55
38.  Derrike Cope        Chevrolet    23
39.  Johnny Chapman      Chevrolet    15
40.  J C Stout           Chevrolet    10
41.  Terry Cook          Chevrolet     9
42.  Larry Gunselman     Dodge         2
43.  Justin Ashburn      Chevrolet     1