Edwards steals one at Richmond

Carl Edwards

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Carl Edwards won Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400, and the final five spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup were decided in a captivating regular-season finale at Richmond International Raceway.

Edwards led 46 laps, all at the end of the race, and passed leader Paul Menard on the final restart of the night.

Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano earned automatic entries into the Chase by finishing the regular season in the top 10 in points. Kasey Kahne, who had already earned a Wild Card berth, is joined by Martin Truex Jr. as Wild Card entries in the postseason.

It came down to the final lap, and Logano’s 22nd-place finish put him in 10th place, one point ahead of Jeff Gordon. Gordon was 11th in the standings, but finished the season without a win.

He finished eighth on Saturday.

Truex Jr. and Newman both had 741 points following the race, and Truex Jr. had the tiebreaker — both drivers had one victory this year, but Truex had a second-place finish.

Defending series champion Keselowski won't return to defend his title. He had one of the strongest cars in the field early and led 142 laps before getting caught up in an unfortunate caution on Lap 344.

Gordon’s Chase hopes took heavy damage when he began reporting a vibration on Lap 225. The veteran was forced to bring his No. 24 Chevrolet into pit road for an unscheduled stop to repair a loose tire, and by the time he got back on track, he was in 25th place and two laps down.

Gordon chugged past leader Keselowski to get back within one lap down, and was the beneficiary on the next caution to put himself in position for one final surge.

Jimmie Johnson finished outside the top 25 for the fourth consecutive race. He didn’t log a single practice lap in his No. 48 Chevrolet due to the birth of his second daughter. Regan Smith qualified Johnson’s car, which was sent to the rear of the field for a driver change.

Johnson eventually lost power on Lap 223 and went behind the wall. When he returned to the race, he was 24 laps down.

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