AVONDALE, Ariz. — Carl Edwards won Saturday's Able Body Labor 200 to postpone Kyle Busch's formal NASCAR Nationwide Series championship clinching party for one week.
But Busch still had cause for celebration. With a 190-point lead entering next Saturday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch needs merely to start the Ford 300 to claim his first title in one of NASCAR's top three national touring series.
"That's 25 — 25 (career Nationwide) wins," said Edwards, who beat runner-up Kevin Harvick to the finish line by 2.415 seconds. "I know Kyle's almost clinched the championship, but that's what we came here to do, to win this race."
Reed Sorenson ran third in Todd Braun's No. 32 Toyota, followed by Clint Bowyer and Keselowski.
Busch's clinching prospects were in jeopardy early in the race, after he spun the No. 18 Toyota off turn two in front of Clint Bowyer's No. 29 Chevrolet on lap seven. Busch tagged the outside wall with the right rear of his car and the inside wall with the left front.
Busch's team worked on the car on pit road and got Busch back on the track before he lost a lap. After restarting 35th, Busch worked his way to 12th in the running order by Lap 30 of 200. Busch ran as high as fourth before the final caution but faded to ninth at the finish.
With Edwards winning and leading the most laps, Busch needed to finish seventh or better to lock up the title.
Asked about the early-race spin, Busch gave a terse explanation.
"I was driving a bucket of (expletive)," he said.
Saturday's race also fanned the smoldering rivalry between polesitter Denny Hamlin and fifth-place finisher Brad Keselowski into full flame. The drivers traded shots with their cars after a restart on Lap 157, with Keselowski spinning Hamlin's Toyota in Turn 1 to bring out the sixth and final caution of the race.
The incident started with Hamlin bumping Keselowski and ducking beneath him. Keselowski retaliated in the corner and turned Hamlin's No. 20 Toyota.
Hamlin kept the car off the wall but had to pit and restarted at the back of the field on Lap 164. He finished 12th.