Missourian Edwards finishes fifth at Kansas, slides into third in Chase standings

Looking to move up from his 10th overall starting position, Carl Edwards ended up avoiding many of the wrecks that hurt some Chase contenders throughout Sunday’s race.

The Columbia native ended up in fifth place at the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway and perhaps more importantly is now tied for third in the Chase standings with Ryan Newman.

“An awesome finish to our day,” Edwards said. “I know fifth is not why people come with their 99 T-shirt on, but that was better than we deserved. Everyone did a great job.”

The fifth-place finish also accounted for his ninth top-10 finish in his last 11 races Sprint Cup races. Edwards drove the Fastenal Ford on Sunday.

“Everyone on the Fastenal crew did a great job and Jimmy Fennig made the right calls and we came home with a top-five, so it was a good day,” Edwards said.

Being consistent has put Edwards in a solid position in the Chase standings as NASCAR moves to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday.

“We’ll go to Charlotte, do what we do there and hopefully we can have a little fun at Talladega and not be on the bubble,” Edwards said.

“Charlotte’s going to be tough, but I think we’re going to be OK,” he said. “We’ve been working on our mile-and-a-half stuff.”

Edwards sat around the 15th position for much of the day, but the last 30 laps he slowly moved up in the pack.

“It was so hard to manage the risk,” he said. “You know, how much risk do you take? Every spot matters, but then you see guys banging into each other and wrecking. We narrowly avoided some big disasters today.”

Edwards, who’s made appearances at Chiefs and Royals games, also gave a shout-out to Ned Yost and the Royals for the AL Division Series game on Sunday. Edwards threw out the first pitch on April 7.

“I wish the best to them,” Edwards said. “Ned Yost spent so much time with me when they let me throw out the first pitch, which was the most nerve-racking thing I’ve ever done. “

Now with a top-five finish, Edwards hopes the momentum can keep going to get into the Eliminator Round of eight.

“If we can hang on and use our experience to stay in it, we get to catch them in points every three races, and that’s a gift right now,” Edwards said.

Clint Boyer, a native of Emporia, Kan., finished in 18th place on Sunday.

“We just struggled all day,” Bowyer said. “(We) got damage early on and our pink lemonade 5-Hour Energy Toyota was never the same. Hate it at my home track.”

Bowyer, who is not in the Chase, was hoping for his first win at Kansas Speedway.

But he was anxious to get back to Charlotte, N.C., where his wife, Lorra, delivered their first child, Cash Aaron Bowyer, on Wednesday.

This story was originally published October 5, 2014 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Missourian Edwards finishes fifth at Kansas, slides into third in Chase standings."