Carl Edwards Backflips His Way to Pocono Win

Sunday's Pocono race ended with a backflip at the checkered flag. After much of the day being led by Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, the No. 99 Office Depot Ford found himself with enough gas in the tank to land Carl Edwards the win.

The day started off with Keefer Sutherland giving the most famous words in motor sports, and after the green flag, signs showed that it would be a long race.

Halfway through the first lap, Kevin Harvick and Joe Nemechek spun out—however, both regained control and got away with little damage done. Lap seven saw Kurt Busch lose control off of turn three and spin out. Before lap 20, there were three cautions.

Mark Martin led the most laps Sunday, up in the 50 range. But the first half was dominated by Jimmie Johnson. At lap 131, rain fell on the track and the red flag was brought out. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was first off of pit road, however, he was scored in 20th position due to 19 cars staying out.

After about half an hour of rain delay, the driver were back underway and green flag racing resumed. Kasey Kahne led a fair amount of the last half of the race. At lap 138, Nemechek and Paul Menard got together, bringing out the caution.

Jeff Gordon started dropping positions greatly and found himself extremely loose. About 50% of the field was on different pit strategies during the race, and many payed for trying to stretch their fuel mileage. Some of these included Kurt Busch, David Gilliland, and Reed Sorenson.

The last ten laps saw points increase and decrease drastically, and Carl Edwards pushing his fuel mileage. With two laps to go, points Leader Kyle Busch ran out of fuel and had to pit—however, he cannot get going before going down one lap.

The last lap saw Hendrick Motorsports run out of fuel on the last corner. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson all ran out of gas. Carl Edwards won the race, moving him from fifth to third in the points position and giving him his fourth win of 2008.

Race Results/Starting Position/Sponsor/Points

1. 15 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 190/5 200 Running

2. 20 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 170/0 200 Running

3. 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 170/5 200 Running

4. 21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 160/0 200 Running

5. 16 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance 160/5 200 Running

6. 30 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 150/0 200 Running

7. 7 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 151/5 200 Running

8. 2 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet Steak-umm Burgers 152/10 200 Running

9. 41 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 143/5 200 Running

10. 4 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 134/0 200 Running

11. 5 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 135/5 200 Running

12. 12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet AMP Energy / National Guard 132/5 200 Running

13. 9 16 Greg Biffle Ford DISH Network Turbo HD 129/5 200 Running

14. 6 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Avis 121/0 200 Running

15. 17 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 118/0 200 Running

16. 19 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Hitachi Power Tools 115/0 200 Running

17. 34 45 Chad McCumbee Dodge Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil 112/0 200 Running

18. 18 70 Tony Raines Chevrolet Haas Automation 109/0 200 Running

19. 31 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 106/0 200 Running

20. 37 21 Bill Elliott Ford Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies 108/5 200 Running

21. 39 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Team USA 100/0 200 Running

22. 33 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Cheez-It / CARQUEST 97/0 200 Running

23. 14 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Express 94/0 200 Running

24. 35 00 Michael McDowell * Toyota Champion Mortgage 91/0 200 Running

25. 36 01 Regan Smith * Chevrolet DEI / Principal Financial Group 88/0 200 Running

26. 26 77 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge Mobil 1 85/0 200 Running

27. 29 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Best Buy / Garmin 82/0 200 Running

28. 8 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 79/0 200 In Pit

29. 40 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet Haas Automation 81/5 200 Running

30. 28 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 73/0 200 In Pit

31. 24 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 70/0 198 Running

32. 25 10 Terry Labonte Dodge Charter Comm. 67/0 198 Running

33. 11 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 64/0 198 Running

34. 3 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditReport.com 61/0 198 Running

35. 32 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 58/0 198 Running

36. 27 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's 55/0 198 Running

37. 38 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Johns Manville / Menards 52/0 197 Running

38. 10 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 54/5 197 Running

39. 43 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 46/0 196 In Pit

40. 13 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 43/0 146 Out of Race

41. 23 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row / DenverMattress.com 40/0 138 In Pit

42. 22 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet Energizer / Menards 37/0 137 Running

43. 42 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 39/5 24 Out of