Grapevine: Edwards wins stars dirt race

Edwards won the 30-lap feature race on the half-mile oval, leading almost every lap but fighting hard all the way with Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch, who finished third and second respectively.

"That's really cool to get to race Jeff Gordon on dry, slick dirt track like this," Edwards said. "I was definitely amazed at Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon. It's unreal to see how talented these guys are on dirt."

Gordon actually led one lap in his return to the track where he last raced back in 1991, before becoming a star in NASCAR.

"It's great to be back at Eldora Speedway," said Gordon. "We've done some midget races and some silver crown races in the past and I've run a winged sprint car here too. It was a good racecar and I was just playing catch-up all night long.

"I was just trying to learn this type of a car but in the feature I was having a blast. It was just so cool to be a part of it."

Host Tony Stewart didn't finish the main race after being involved in an incident with Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte, but was still upbeat at the success of the event, which was televised in the US through HBO in pay-per-view.

"In the main event, we weren't very good, but I got to watch a really good race in front of me," said Stewart. "And then when I got in the crash, I got to watch a good finish from the infield. I was smiling and I wasn't even in the race anymore."

Stewart was impressed at how some of the drivers who were new to dirt racing, were able to adapt very quickly as was the case with former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who was one of the main attractions of the event.

"I had to take Juan down and just show him how to make the car go and how to get it in gear," Stewart added. "And then to watch him out here on the track, he didn't look like a rookie out there at all. It took him about four laps to start figuring it out."

Montoya for his part enjoyed the experience but was left hoping for more laps as he was already getting to grips with it when the race was over.  He eventually finished 15th, one place ahead of Denny Hamlin.

"You know, 10-lap races, I thought, 'Whew, they're pretty long," Montoya said. "And all of a sudden with 30 laps, I started getting in the groove and I started enjoying it a little bit and then it was, 'Oh, it's over.' So when I saw the white flag, I said, 'No!'"

"I picked up a lot of respect for the guys that run on dirt. It's very hard to appreciate how tough it is. It takes a lot," the Colombian added.

The proceeds from the TV broadcast of the event will go to support the Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Tony Stewart Foundation.

Pos Driver              Laps
 1. Carl Edwards         30
 2. Kyle Busch           30
 3. Jeff Gordon          30
 4. Ken Schrader         30
 5. Clint Bowyer         30
 6. Kasey Kahne          30
 7. Matt Kenseth         30
 8. J.J. Yeley           30
 9. David Reutiman       30
10. Mark Martin          30
11. Aric Almirola        30
12. Dave Blaney          30
13. Kenny Wallace        30
14. Kevin Harvick        30
15. Juan Pablo Montoya   30
16. Denny Hamlin         30
17. Red Farmer           30
18. Ryan Newman          30
19. Cruz Pedregon        29
20. Mike Wallace         24
21. Bobby Labonte        17
22. Tony Stewart         17
23. Ray Evernham          5
24. Ron Capps             2