SPARTA, Ky. — Robert Yates Racing’s Stephen Leicht reaped the benefits of Carl Edwards’s misfortune in Saturday’s Meijer 300 and celebrated his first NASCAR Busch Series victory at Kentucky Speedway.
“We were in the right position at the right time, and we were able to capitalize on it with 10 to go,” Leicht said.
Leicht and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brad Coleman were left to do battle after Edwards was knocked from contention with just more than 40 laps remaining. Coleman led for 32 laps before Leicht made the winning move in his No. 90 Ford Fusion around Coleman’s No. 18 Chevrolet on lap 188.
Coleman initially inherited the lead following a caution flag on lap 157.
Edwards dominated the event up to that point, leading 96 laps. On lap 152 a caution flag waved for debris. At the time, Edwards’s Ford had an 11.6-second lead over Steven Wallace.
Edwards led the field to the restart, but once the green flag waved his Ford was jolted by a knock from Wallace’s Dodge. With heavy damage to his machine, Edwards drove straight to the garage for repairs.
“With Carl not out front anymore, obviously, that’s going to be a lot easier to win the race. At the same time, I was a little disappointed. I was wanting to work my way up through there and try to race Carl for the win. I would have loved to have raced door to door with him at the end,” Leicht said.
Coleman didn’t let nerves get the best of him.
“I was right behind them. I see two cars get sideways, and the only way I could go was straight to the apron. It was pretty nerve wracking, just glad we didn’t get caught up in it,” Coleman said.
“I really thought we had that win there with 20 laps to go. Scott (Wimmer) kept getting under me. We were able to hold him off. Once we started pulling away from him I thought we were good, but then I heard Stephen Leicht was running that high side. There was nothing I could do about that. He passed me and pulled away.”
Wimmer finished third in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Chip Ganassi Racing’s David Stremme drove the highest-finishing Dodge in fourth. Stremme and Edwards were among seven drivers to fly in from Nextel Cup competition in Brooklyn, Mich.
Shane Huffman, Aric Almirola, Kelly Bires, David Ragan, Mike Bliss and Greg Biffle filled the top 10.
Eighth-place finisher Bires was filling in for the second week in a row for Jon Wood, who remains sidelined with a medical condition.
Despite his 33rd-place finish, Edwards didn’t lose any ground in the standings. He holds the position by 701 points over Dave Blaney.