Edwards wins Bristol and clinches Chase spot

Carl Edwards was charging on Kasey Kahne hard, lap  traffic got in the way allowing Edwards to get past Kahne and other than green flag pit stops, Edwards held the lead for the rest of the race.  Edwards clearly had the dominate car out there, although Kahne's was strong, it wasn't strong enough to challenge Edwards.  Still a second place finish for Kahne was great with the dismal season he has had.

The newly configured and repaved track allowed side by side and even three-wide racing, something we're not used to seeing at Bristol without it causing a wreck.  It also provided for some long green flag runs, something usually unfamiliar to Bristol.

Depending on who you ask, the changes at the track are great or not so great.  I have to admit I did enjoy the side by side racing, but was hoping for a closer finish, something like the finish of the Busch race on Friday night.

Lap traffic still proved to be a headache, even though they were able to run side by side, mostly because the lap cars wouldn't give way to the leaders even though some of them were multiple laps down.  One lap car, Michael Waltrip, held up Kahne for quite a few laps, first trying to get side by side with him and then getting by him, Waltrip just wouldn't give up even though he wasn't fighting for position and was two laps down and about to go down a third lap.  Once Edwards got by Kahne, Waltrip held him up, but he wasn't going to have any of that and he gave Waltrip a bump, which allowed him to get by and then Kahne and third place at the time, Jeff Gordon were able to get by too.  Maybe his spotter finally said something to him, I don't know, but he shouldn't have been fighting the leaders so hard, so I really don't blame Edwards for giving him a bump.

David Ragan had his troubles, bringing out the caution three times by himself for spinning, caused by something to do with his shifter.

Stewart gained two spots in the standings with Hamlin and Kenseth having troubles.  I didn't really think he would gain, even with their troubles, but Stewart, who was virtually unheard of until the final laps of the race, snuck into the top ten to finish fourth.

The bottom of the Chase is heating up.  Although a good fifth place finish for Earnhardt Jr. only gained him a total of five points on twelfth place.  Kevin Harvick, although holding on to tenth in points, lost some ground and is only one point ahead of Martin Truex in eleventh and only nine points ahead of Kurt Busch in twelfth.  Earnhardt Jr. is one hundred and fifty eight points out of twelfth and seventeen points ahead of fourteenth.

Now there are five drivers that have clinched Chase spots, so they can actually take more risks in these final two races before the Chase - Gordon, Stewart, Hamlin, Kenseth and Edwards.  These drivers can go all out and take risks for wins where other Chasers still have to be careful.  It could make things quite interesting.

Your thoughts on the race?

And, in your opinion, was Bristol better, the same or worse than before?