Motor Racing Digest

 

Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17

August 11, 2012

In his first Nationwide Series appearance of the season, Carl Edwards battled with Brad Keselowski in the closing laps to win the Zippo 200 on Saturday at Watkins Glen International. Edwards held off his series rival Keselowski during a two-lap dash on the races final restart to take the checkered flag.

The win for Edwards was his 38th of his career, breaking a tie with Kevin Harvick for third on the all-time wins.

Keselowski, who led 44 laps on the afternoon, was the class of the field through most of the race. Keselowski was unable to fend off a great restart by Edwards with two laps remaining to finish second. The second-place finish marked his fourth top-10 in four starts at Watkins Glen and his 11th of the 2012 season.

Sam Hornish, the polesitter for the race, posted his first top-10 finish at Watkins Glen with his third-place finish. For Hornish, the top-10 was his first in two starts at Watkins Glen.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished in fourth place while Ron Fellows, driving for JR Motorsports, finished out the top-five.

Danica Patrick’s series debut at Watkins Glen Intermational was short-lived after she made contact with Ryan Truex on the first lap. Truex lost control as the pack headed into Turn 1, perhaps aided from behind, slid through the grass and back on the track. Patrick was unable to avoid Truex and sustained front-end damage, which punctured the radiator sending the No. 7 Go Daddy Chevrolet to the garage. Unable to return to the race, Patrick finished a disappointing 43rd.

Kyle Busch was forced to the rear of the field after the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota team for an engine swap. Busch blazed through the field in the first 16 laps of the race to break the top-10. With a broken shifter, Busch battled through most of the race to earn a sixth-place finish.

Austin Dillon struggled in his series debut at Watkins Glen with an early passthrough penalty compounded by a cut tire with six laps remaining. Dillon finished 23rd and dropped two positions in the driver standings.

Points leader Elliott Sadler finished the race in 12th and maintains the points lead over Stenhouse Jr. by 13 points. Hornish moves to third in the standings with Dillon sitting 29 points behind his teammate Sadler.

Results of the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen:

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Pts	Bpts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	2	60	Carl Edwards(i)	Subway Ford	82	0		RUNNING	2	9
2	4	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	SKF/Discount Tire Dodge	82	0		RUNNING	4	44
3	1	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	PPG Dodge	82	42	1	RUNNING	2	15
4	10	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford EcoBoost Ford	82	40		RUNNING
5	15	5	Ron Fellows	Canadian Tire Chevrolet	82	39		RUNNING
6	5	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Monster Energy Toyota	82	0		RUNNING	1	1
7	11	38	Kasey Kahne(i)	Great Clips Chevrolet	82	0		RUNNING
8	3	33	Paul Menard(i)	Menards/Rheem Chevrolet	82	0		RUNNING
9	8	31	Justin Allgaier	Brandt Chevrolet	82	36	1	RUNNING	1	1
10	9	11	Brian Scott	Dollar General Toyota	82	34		RUNNING
11	19	43	Michael Annett	Pilot/Flying J Ford	82	33		RUNNING
12	7	2	Elliott Sadler	Charter Chevrolet	82	32		RUNNING
13	14	30	Miguel Paludo(i)	Duroline Chevrolet	82	0		RUNNING	1	4
14	20	44	Mike Bliss	Toyota	82	30		RUNNING
15	13	20	Ryan Truex	Grime Boss Toyota	82	30	1	RUNNING	1	2
16	16	99	Victor Gonzalez Jr.	Delta Commercial/IMCA Toyota	82	28		RUNNING
17	27	81	Jason Bowles #	American Majority Toyota	82	27		RUNNING
18	28	01	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	82	26		RUNNING
19	21	51	Jeremy Clements	USS James E Williams DDG 95 Chevrolet	82	26	1	RUNNING	1	1
20	34	75	Kenny Habul	SunEnergy 1 Racing, LLC Toyota	82	24		RUNNING
21	24	59	Kyle Kelley	Jamison Eng./UPR.com Chevrolet	82	23		RUNNING
22	6	18	Joey Logano(i)	GameStop/BuyMyTronics.com Toyota	82	0		RUNNING
23	30	3	Austin Dillon #	Advocare Chevrolet	82	21		RUNNING
24	12	88	Cole Whitt #	TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet	81	20		RUNNING
25	39	24	Tim Connolly	Michael Connolly Endowment for Lung Cancer Research Chevrolet	81	19		RUNNING
26	40	14	Eric McClure	Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota	77	18		RUNNING
27	26	97	Joe Nemechek	AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota	55	17		Engine
28	41	70	Tony Raines(i)	Dodge	45	0		Vibration
29	25	87	Alex Kennedy	Global Barter Corporation/Dream Factory Toyota	37	16	1	Accident	1	5
30	38	4	Daryl Harr	iWorld Chevrolet	33	14		RUNNING
31	31	40	JJ Yeley(i)	Chevrolet	27	0		Electrical
32	42	23	Dexter Stacey	Chevrolet	25	12		Handling
33	43	89	Morgan Shepherd	Hyland’s Leg Cramps Chevrolet	23	11		Brakes
34	35	53	Eric Curran	Whelen/Michael J. Fox Foundation Dodge	18	10		Electrical
35	29	41	Timmy Hill	Lilly Trucking Ford	14	9		Alternator
36	37	39	Matthew Bell	Global Barter Corporation Ford	11	8		Accident
37	32	15	Chris Cook(i)	Lilly Trucking Chevrolet	8	0		Overheating
38	17	19	Alex Popow	G-Oil/Noah’s Light Foundation Toyota	5	6		Accident
39	18	42	Josh Wise(i)	Chevrolet	3	0		Vibration
40	33	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	3	4		Vibration
41	36	46	Matt DiBenedetto	The Motorsports Group Chevrolet	2	3		Brakes
42	22	47	Stephen Leicht(i)	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet	2	0		Brakes
43	23	7	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	2	1		Accident