Edwards uses spin to win

NATIONWIDE

Carl Edwards meant no harm to Brad Keselowski. He just wanted to take the checkered flag that he deserved.

Edwards prevailed in a wild final lap, nudging Keselowski out of control on the final straightaway to take the NASCAR Nationwide Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 on Saturday night at Madison, Ill. Ten cars were involved in the mess.

"The deal is he'll eventually learn he can't run into my car over and over and put me in bad situations," Edwards said. "In every situation, there's an aggressor and there's someone who reacts.

"I was not the aggressor in this situation."

Keselowski was on the inside and had appeared to take the lead before Edwards' car drifted into him. Keselowski spun into the wall and was struck head-on by Shelby Howard as he slid back to toward the infield.

Edwards said Keselowski wouldn't have been in position to win if he hadn't bumped Edwards earlier on the final lap.

"The way it went, he bumped me and he finished wherever he finished and I still won the race," Edwards said. "That's the only way I could see the race turning out fair."

Keselowski finally rolled across the line in 14th. He wasn't hurt, just peeved.

"I'm sure he'll say how sorry he is, or how cool he thinks he is or how great of a guy he is in his own mind," said Keselowski, who leads the Nationwide series by 168 points over Edwards. "But that's not reality."

Edwards, of Columbia, Mo., won for the third time at Gateway International Raceway, which he considers his home track. Reed Sorenson was second and 19-year-old pole-sitter Trevor Bayne third.

Sorenson said he was just trying to avoid the mess.

"I couldn't hardly see what happened," Sorenson said. "The 60 (Edwards) obviously got into the right rear of the 22 (Keselowski). I just hoped I would beat the 60 to the line."

Keselowski was runner-up in the Camping World 200 truck race earlier Saturday, and led much of the Nationwide series event. He said the contact in turn 1 on the final lap was incidental.

"I was rubbing on him a little bit," Keselowski said. "I figured out a way to beat him. He wasn't happy with me, so he wrecked me. Wrecking down the straightaway is never cool whether he's at 200 mph or 120."

Edwards insisted it was justice.

"That's my job, to win the race, and to make sure I don't get walked on or get something taken away from me that's mine," he said. "I'm sure tempers are up right now, but hopefully after looking at it we can each step in the other's shoes and see it from the other perspective."

Kevin Harvick, who won the truck race, was in contention before losing control and crunching his car against the right wall with about 10 laps to go. He ended up 10th.

Ryan Truex, 18-year-old younger brother of two-time Nationwide champion Martin Truex Jr., was 28th in his debut.

"This was more fun than I ever thought it would be," he said. "I always wondered what it would be like and it was better than I ever imagined."

At Gateway International Raceway

Madison, Ill.

Lap length: 1.25 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (8) Carl Edwards, Ford, 200 laps, 128.3 rating, 190 points.

2. (13) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 200, 106.4, 170.

3. (1) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, 200, 116.8, 170.

4. (5) Paul Menard, Ford, 200, 111, 160.

5. (9) Steve Wallace, Toyota, 200, 104.6, 155.

6. (6) Brian Scott, Toyota, 200, 101.3, 150.

7. (2) Colin Braun, Ford, 200, 105, 146.

8. (34) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 200, 82.4, 142.

9. (15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 200, 87.4, 138.

10. (22) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 200, 76.1, 134.

11. (33) Michael Annett, Toyota, 200, 79.6, 130.

12. (12) Shelby Howard, Chevrolet, 200, 79.6, 127.

13. (26) Steve Arpin, Chevrolet, 200, 81.4, 124.

14. (3) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 200, 136.8, 131.

15. (21) Willie Allen, Chevrolet, 200, 69.4, 118.

16. (10) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 200, 114.3, 120.

17. (4) Brendan Gaughan, Toyota, 198, 86.3, 112.

18. (20) Tayler Malsam, Toyota, 198, 60.2, 109.

19. (39) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 198, 60, 106.

20. (32) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 198, 52.8, 103.

21. (41) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, 197, 51.7, 100.

22. (37) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 197, 49.7, 97.

23. (24) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 196, 70.6, 94.

24. (42) Alex Kennedy, Chevrolet, 196, 45.6, 91.

25. (16) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, accident, 194, 80.2, 88.

26. (43) Eric McClure, Ford, 193, 43.1, 85.

27. (17) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, accident, 189, 64.3, 82.

28. (19) Ryan Truex, Toyota, accident, 178, 78.4, 79.

29. (18) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 163, 79.7, 76.

30. (7) Brad Coleman, Toyota, accident, 150, 76.9, 73.

31. (38) Landon Cassill, Ford, vibration, 102, 42.4, 70.

32. (29) Kelly Bires, Ford, engine, 62, 61, 67.

33. (40) Brad Baker, Ford, brakes, 61, 38.5, 64.

34. (23) Jason Keller, Chevrolet, accident, 44, 57.4, 61.

35. (31) Kevin Lepage, Chevrolet, ignition, 26, 35.6, 58.

36. (11) Chase Miller, Chevrolet, electrical, 24, 43.5, 55.

37. (28) Danny O'Quinn Jr., Chevrolet, vibration, 20, 41.6, 52.

38. (27) Brian Keselowski, Dodge, brakes, 13, 41.4, 49.

39. (14) Kevin Swindell, Ford, brakes, 8, 35.7, 46.

40. (35) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, oil pressure, 6, 31.9, 43.

41. (25) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, electrical, 4, 31, 40.

42. (36) Dennis Setzer, Dodge, vibration, 3, 30.4, 37.

43. (30) Mark Green, Chevrolet, electrical, 2, 28.3, 34.

Top 10 in Points: 1. Bra.Keselowski, 3,042; 2. C.Edwards, 2,874; 3. J.Allgaier, 2,545; 4. K.Busch, 2,486; 5. K.Harvick, 2,434; 6. P.Menard, 2,367; 7. S.Wallace, 2,204; 8. B.Gaughan, 2,127; 9. J.Logano, 2,108; 10. J.Leffler, 2,088.

Justin Wilson won his first IndyCar Series pole to end Team Penske's streak at eight, turning a series track-record lap of 104.827 mph on the 11-turn, 1.755-mile street circuit for today's Honda Indy Toronto (9:30 a.m., KXLY, ESPN 700).

Wilson, the winner from the pole in the 2006 Champ Car race at the tight and bumpy Exhibition Place track, gave owner Dreyer & Reinbold Racing its first IndyCar pole since Sarah Fisher led the field at Kentucky Speedway in 2002.

"We've had a couple of tough races, so to come back and get the pole here is just fantastic," Wilson said. "Everyone at Dreyer & Reinbold has worked so hard.

"It's a good weekend so far. We have to keep it up. We'll keep pushing for the race. It's easy in this stage to sit back and relax, but we have a lot of work to do."

After Saturday qualifying;

race Sunday

On the Toronto street circuit

Toronto

Lap length: 1.755 miles

(Car number in parentheses)

All cars Dallara chassis, Honda engine

1. (22) Justin Wilson, 104.827 mph.

2. (12) Will Power, 104.505.

3. (3) Helio Castroneves, 103.887.

4. (37) Ryan Hunter-Reay, 103.847.

5. (10) Dario Franchitti, 103.663.

6. (9) Scott Dixon, 103.652.

7. (6) Ryan Briscoe, 103.72.

8. (11) Tony Kanaan, 103.708.

9. (77) Alex Tagliani, 103.574.

10. (26) Marco Andretti, 103.185.

11. (2) Raphael Matos, 103.097.

12. (7) Danica Patrick, 102.802.

13. (8) E.J. Viso, 102.884.

14. (02) Graham Rahal, 102.395.

15. (4) Dan Wheldon, 102.411.

16. (36) Bertrand Baguette, 102.221.

17. (34) Mario Romancini, 101.973.

18. (5) Takuma Sato, 102.212.

19. (24) Tomas Scheckter, 101.833.

20. (32) Mario Moraes, 101.747.

21. (78) Simona de Silvestro, 101.665.

22. (06) Hideki Mutoh, 101.665.

23. (19) Alex Lloyd, 100.904.

24. (15) Paul Tracy, 101.025.

25. (18) Milka Duno, no speed.

26. (14) Vitor Meira, 100.168.