Edwards Provides the Most Exciting Finish of the Year

From the Crossville Chronicle - Crossville, TN October 1, 2008

By Joe Dunn

In a desperate move to take the win from Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards had the fans on their feet as he swept low into turn three on the final lap and blasted past leader Johnson.
The pass was amazing, except for the fact that he ran out of race track as his momentum slammed his Ford into the outside wall. Carl recovered, but not before Johnson squeezed by. Not about to give up, Carl again dove low attempting to catch Jimmie before the finish line, but came up short.
The pass will no doubt be seen as a highlight addition to racing shows for years to come. The last lap made this the most exciting race of the year for the Nascar Sprint cup series. The pass that didn’t follow through was joined on that last lap as Greg Biffle seemed to come out of nowhere to take third place away from Jeff Gordon at the line.
Johnson’s win, along with leading the most laps, pushed him past leader Edwards to take a 10 point advantage over Carl. Biffle remains in third, 30 points behind the leader. The points difference jumps to 121 for 4th place Jeff Burton. Another bad finish for Kyle Busch leaves the Hot Shoe of the regular season in the Chase basement in 12th place, 311 points behinds Johnson. That places the expected front runner all but eliminated from any chance for the championship. Busch is not alone as it seems that all of the Joe Gibbs cars are suffering in the chase. Another lack luster finish for Nascar’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaves him in 8th place 190 points behind.
The Cup series heads to Talladega this week for the AMP Energy 500, Sunday at Noon (ct) on ABC. The Nascar Nationwide Series is off this week as the Nascar Craftsman Truck Series joins the Cup teams at Talladega for the Mountain Dew 250 Saturday at 2:30 Pm (ct) on Speed.

An announcement was made this week by Ronnie Wyatt of Wyatt Builders of Crossville. Wyatt Builders Racing Inc. is joining forces with Ray Cook Racing LLC to host the Tennessee State Championship for Super Late Model Dirt Racing. The $6,000.00 to win ($530.00 to start) event will be held on Saturday October 11 at Crossville Raceway.
In speaking of the event, Wyatt stated “Having been involved in dirt racing since 1986 and enjoying the sport as I do, I have for some time wanted the opportunity to promote a racing event, I guess that time has come. I have asked our good friend Ray Cook to join Brett and I in bringing the largest Super Late Model show to Crossville Raceway since late 2006.”
Wyatt and Cook are leasing the track for this one time event, with hopes of making it an annual event. In addition to the Super Late Model race, the plan to run the Limited Late Model/Sportsman/Crate cars for a $1,000.00 to win race. A $300.00 to win Pure mini/Front wheel drive will complete the show. Gates will open at 2:00 pm with hot laps at 6:00 pm. I will have more information next week, as well as news of a possible sale of the local track.