By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
BROOKLYN – There was no surprise that a Ford found its way to victory lane on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
But the winner may have been.
On a day dedicated to fathers, it was a kid who held off the field to pick up his first victory in 52 events.
Carl Edwards held off Martin Truex Jr. and defending NEXTEL Cup champion Jimmie Johnson to win Sunday's Citizen's Bank 400.
That trio slugged it out over the final 30 laps with Edwards and Truex Jr. rallying back from early race issues.
Johnson was eliminated from the mix as he ran out of gas with seven laps remaining. Johnson, who is second in the points, came home with a 19th place finish.
Edwards was caught speeding on pit road in the first 100 laps, while Truex Jr., who grabbed the lead just 10 laps into the event and looked like he might run away with the race, was involved in a multi-car accident on lap 75.
While Edwards and Truex Jr. battled for the lead over the closing laps, Tony Stewart, who started at the rear of the field, Casey Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr. came home third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, current points leader Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip, who posted his best finish of the season.
"It feels unbelievable," Edwards said of the victory. "Yesterday we had a great Office Depot Fusion in practice and felt really good about coming into today."
Edwards, who raced in Kentucky on Saturday night in the Busch race, had some issues late in the race that made it a long night.
But after talking with his crew chief, he was convinced to put Saturday night's problem behind him.
Still, the speeding penalty just added to his frustration.
"We got put in the back, but our car was good enough that we made it back up to the front," Edwards continued. "At the end there, Martin Truex was amazingly fast. Martin has been on a role lately, so it was great to be able to beat him in really a head-to-head race. That meant a lot."
Truex Jr. was pleased with his run, but wondered what might have been had it not been for that accident.
"We got out there and led a bunch," he said. "The car was really, really fast and was handling great. We decided to take two tires and lost a few spots around lap 60 or so. We lost some track position from that and we got spun out just before half way and that hurt us. But we worked our way back to the front."
South Bend (Ind.) native Ryan Newman started up front, but a pair of incidents ended his chances of coming away with his third career win at MIS.
Newman blew a tire early in the race and lost three laps as it got wrapped around the axe and took quite a bit of time to repair.
Newman was then involved in the lap 75 accident as he and Jeff Green, both a lap of more down, tangled on the back stretch.
Despite all of the off track issues at Dale Earnhardt Inc. the company had one of its best days of the season on Sunday.
Not only did Truex Jr. pick up his third consecutive finish of third or better, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished fifth.
Earnhardt Jr., who announced earlier in the week he had signed with Hendrick Motorsports, escaped an early tire issue and then harkened, some found memories for older race fans.
Earnhardt Jr. put a rag in his mouth, ala Richard Petty, and made a charge to the front of the field.
Midway through the race, it looked like Hendrick was going to continue its season dominance.
With 10 wins in the first 14 races, Hendrick drivers Johnson and Gordon were running first and second.
But Edwards and Ford continued the hex over Chevrolet at MIS.
A chevy hasn't won a race at the speedway since Gordon in 2001.
Gordon continues to lead the point standings, while Denny Hamlin moved into second place, trailing Gordon by 264 points.
Johnson improved to third place with Matt Kenseth, who was involved in the lap 75 accident, dropping to fourth. Jeff Burton remained in fifth place.
Rounding out the top 12 are Edwards, Stewart, Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Truex Jr. Busch and Earnhardt Jr., who moved up two spots.
The rough day dropped Newman town two spots to 15th.
South Bend's David Stremme is currently 22nd in the point standings, while LaPorte (Ind.) native Tony Raines is 27th.
The top 12 drivers advance to the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup over the final 10 races of the season.
There are just 11 races left in the Race for the Chase.