Edwards beats Busch in Nationwide

The two main contenders for this year's title in NASCAR's second-tier series started from the rear of the field after missing qualifying, as they were both practicing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race.

From the back of the pack they quickly made their way to the front and alternated the lead of the race between them in a tight battle all the way to the chequered flag.

Busch was the first to lead the race when he came out of the pits in front of his rivals when all the leaders pitted under the seventh caution of the day, close to halfway through the scheduled distance.

However 24 laps later and following a close battle where they seemed to rub each others' fenders more than once, the Roush Fenway racer was able to get by the Toyota of Busch, staying up front until the final round of pitstops.

But Busch got another chance to beat Edwards when the leader had to reverse his car in order to leave his box, after being serviced in the pits for the final time. Not only he lost valuable time but also the lead of the race which went back to Busch, whose pit crew seemed unbeatable all night long.

Following the final restart, Edwards started to put Busch under pressure again, racing him side by side for a number of laps until he finally cleared him on the inside with 21 laps remaining.

Busch tried to remain in contention and in doing so, he clipped the wall a few laps later, although the damage was not enough to prevent him from keeping second place as another tight battle unfolded on his rear-view mirrors for third.

Matt Kenseth, who also made his way to the front after starting from the rear of the pack, tried to fend off Steven Wallace, while Brad Keselowski watched the battle unfold in front on him. In the end, the JR Motorsports driver was able to get by Wallace for fourth place, while Kenseth made it a top-three sweep from Sprint Cup regulars.

"Starting from the back it was a lot of fun coming back through the field," said Edwards after winning his second Nationwide Series race of the year "I knew Kyle was going to be really fast and man, I don't know how it looked like on TV but that was one of the most fun races I've been a part of.

"[Kyle Busch] is a really good driver and it means a lot to be able to race with him like that. It's so cool to be back on Victory Lane for the second time this season."

Busch was not disappointed with second place after coming from the back of the field. He expected to lose more in the end after making contact with the wall while trying to keep up with Edwards in the closing stages, but he still was able to extend his run of top-two finishes to seven consecutive races.

"Short-track racing at its finest right there, I guess" Busch said about his battle with Edwards. "We just didn't have a good car today. We fought it in practice and that's a good way to come home second.

"After we fenced it there we should have fell back, fifth, sixth or something. But we didn't give up there and we made one more stop than Carl did and tried to make our car better on adjustments but just didn't have it today."

Behind Kenseth, Keselowski and Wallace, Ron Hornaday was sixth a day after taking his fourth consecutive win at the same track in the Camping World Truck Series. Trevor Bayne, Jason Leffler, early race-leader Scott Wimmer and Kenny Wallace rounded out the top-ten.

Busch continues to lead the championship with a slightly smaller gap to Edwards, who ranks second, 192 points adrift. Keselowski is equally solid in third, 200 points behind Edwards and more than a hundred ahead of fourth placed Leffler.

Pos  Driver              Make        Laps
 1.  Carl Edwards        Ford        200
 2.  Kyle Busch          Toyota      200
 3.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        200
 4.  Brad Keselowski     Chevrolet   200
 5.  Steve Wallace       Chevrolet   200
 6.  Ron Hornaday        Chevrolet   200
 7.  Trevor Bayne        Toyota      200
 8.  Jason Leffler       Toyota      200
 9.  Scott Wimmer        Chevrolet   200
10.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet   200
11.  David Reutimann     Toyota      200
12.  Brendan Gaughan     Chevrolet   200
13.  Stephen Leicht      Chevrolet   200
14.  Aric Almirola       Chevrolet   200
15.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   199
16.  Brad Coleman        Toyota      199
17.  Morgan Shepherd     Chevrolet   199
18.  Austin Dillon       Chevrolet   199
19.  Shelby Howard       Chevrolet   199
20.  Kevin Conway        Toyota      199
21.  Justin Allgaier     Dodge       199
22.  Bobby Hamilton Jr   Ford        199
23.  Eric McClure        Ford        198
24.  Jeff Green          Ford        198
25.  Jason Keller        Ford        198
26.  Peyton Sellers      Chevrolet   198
27.  Travis Kittleson    Chevrolet   197
28.  Michael McDowell    Dodge       197
29.  Erik Darnell        Ford        196
30.  Matt Carter         Ford        196
31.  Ken Butler III      Chevrolet   184
32.  Chase Austin        Chevrolet   179
33.  Mike Bliss          Chevrolet   115
34.  Danny O'Quinn Jr    Chevrolet   111
35.  Michael Annett      Toyota      107
36.  Chris Lawson        Chevrolet    63
37.  Scott Lagasse Jr    Toyota       21
38.  Chad Blount         Toyota       15
39.  Kelly Bires         Toyota       13
40.  Terry Cook          Chevrolet    11
41.  Johnny Chapman      Chevrolet    11
42.  Kertus Davis        Chevrolet     9
43.  Mark Green          Chevrolet     9