Flashback Friday: Carl Edwards wins first fall race at TMS in 2005
In the second year of NASCAR's Chase for the Cup, Roush Fenway Racing was at the peak of its dominance with five of its drivers competing in the 10-car field.
NASCAR announced a second race at Texas Motor Speedway in late 2004 and placed the 500-miler as the eighth Chase race in 2005.
The race saw 23 lead changes between 11 drivers with Carl Edwards and his then-Roush Fenway Racing teammate Mark Martin trading the lead in the latter portions of the race.
With 16 laps remaining in the Dickies 500, Edwards held the lead over Martin when the caution came out for debris. The strategy of the No. 6 driven by Martin was to stay on track and take the lead.
The No. 99 driven by Edwards, and then crew chief Bob Osborne, decided to come into the pits at the last second and take two tires. On the radio, Edwards told his crew that if they could get him out in the top six then he'd find a way to win the race, he came out of the pits in sixth.
The race restarted with 11 laps to go and Martin had a handful of other cars on old tires providing a cushion between himself and Edwards.
After taking a few laps to warm his tires up, Edwards started moving his way through the field and made it to third place behind Martin and fellow Roush teammate Matt Kenseth with six to go.
Cousin Carl made quick work of Kenseth and started chasing Martin down in the final five laps. He caught Martin as the cars crossed the line with two to go, and executed a high-side pass on the backstretch, pulling past his teammate as the white flag waved.
The win catapulted Edwards to third in the points standings but nobody could catch Tony Stewart, who went on to win his second of three Premier Series championships.
Edwards enters Texas again this weekend, looking for his fourth victory at the treacherous 1.5-mile track.
