"I Just Made One Mistake:" Ambrose Miscue Hands Edwards Montreal Win

One corner, one straightaway, and one checkered flag was in sight for Marcos Ambrose. After missing out on winning at Montreal the last two years, he had victory in sight.

And it was all for not.

Ambrose made one miscue in the final corner, handing the win to Carl Edwards in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Edwards was hounding Ambrose during the last half of the final lap, pulling to within two car lengths. Ambrose ran the middle of the track heading into turns 12 and 13, making it impossible for Edwards to decide the correct line.

Ambrose went into the next-to-last corner shallow, and hit the curb on the last corner with the undercarriage. His left-side tires shot up as they hit the barrier, sending the No. 47 Armor All Toyota wide.

Edwards pounced and outran Ambrose to the finish.

In victory lane, Edwards was ecstatic to have his first win at Montreal, and quickly gave a lot of praise to Ambrose for how well he ran.

"That's the best road racer in NASCAR," Edwards said.

On the other hand, Ambrose was disappointed as he climbed from his car, a look of defeat on his face.

"I just made one mistake, and it cost me the race," Ambrose said. He then quickly walked over the pit wall, and back to the hauler.

Rookie Andrew Ranger finishes third, who was challenging both Edwards and Ambrose late in the race.

"He's got a future, what a great driver," Edwards said of Ranger.

Montreal native Jacques Villeneuve and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five.

The 74-lap race was marred with cautions, with five happening prior to the halfway-point.

With 18 laps remaining, the caution came out for the eighth time because of rain, and it took two laps for NASCAR officials to make the decision to bring the cars down pit road. Then teams had five minutes to install windshield wipers, defoggers, brake lights and the new Goodyear Eagle rain tires.

It was the second time over the weekend that the cars ran in wet conditions. On Saturday, qualifying was run in the rain for the first time in a NASCAR points race. In 1996, NASCAR held qualifying in the rain at an exhibition event in Suzuka, Japan.

The Nationwide Series is back in action on Saturday in Atlanta for the Degree V12 300.

NOTES:

-Nationwide points leader Kyle Busch was running third when he got caught up in a late-race incident, putting him back in the field. He recovered to finish tenth. His points lead went from 248 down to 192 over Edwards.

-Canadian native drivers did not fair well in the event. Patrick Carpentier missed a shift 15 laps into the race, over-revving the engine, and relegating him to 38th. Last year's winner Ron Fellows finished 35th after being caught up in an early accident.

-In the last nine Nationwide races, there have been nine different winners.