The AAA Texas 500 started over five hours late due to rain at Texas Motor Speedway. Carl Edwards was able to clinch his spot in NASCAR‘s final four by being the leader when rain returned to the track to end the race.
I missed a good portion of the race due to the rain delay and not having my DVR set to the channel the race was moved to because of the very late start. Therefore, I will basically give you a look at the basic stats from the race and you can watch the re-cap video from NASCAR above for more insight as to what happened during the race.
Following the afternoon rain, the race was started under both the green and yellow flags to allow the track crews to dry pit road. When the green flag was waived by itself six laps later the battle was on.
There was a total of eight yellow flags issued during the race. Eight drivers led the race exchanging that lead 12 times. Joey Logano led the most laps in the race with 178 circuits around the track in the lead.
With the threat of rain returning to the track, Carl Edwards’ pit crew sent him back out on the track with the lead. That was enough for Carl to hold the lead for the final 36 laps ran under the green flag.
On lap 291 the yellow flag was issued for rain on the track and the cars were parked on pit road on lap 293. When it was obvious to NASCAR officials that drying the track again would take too long, they ended the race and declared Carl Edwards the winner.
Joey Logano received the second place finish with Martin Truex Jr. in third place. Chase Elliot ended the race in fourth place with Kyle Busch rounding out the top five. See the complete race results for the AAA Texas 500 here.
Jimmie Johnson remains the leader in the NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings while Joey Logano moves up three places to second. Kyle Busch moves up a spot to third with both Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin falling back a spot each to fourth and fifth respectively. See the complete NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings here.
Carl’s win advances him to the Championship Race at Homestead-Miami on the Chase Grid with Jimmie Johnson as two of the final four with a chance to win the championship. That leaves two spots open for the remaining six Chase Grid drivers to race for next week. See the 2016 NASCAR Chase Grid here.
The final race in the Round of Eight will take place at Phoenix International Speedway with the CAN-AM 500 Sunday, November 13th.
By: Buck Stevens
