Mikey Power

Bashas' Supermarkets 200 - 4/17/09

Michael Waltrip had been leading when Carl Edwards ran into the back of his #99 Best Western Camry and turned him into the wall. Mikey completed just 29 laps in the Bashas' Supermarkets 200, this evening's Nationwide series race at Phoenix International Raceway. He finished 40th.

Mikey rolled off 9th, with Edwards on the pole. When the green flag dropped, Joey Logano immediately battled for the top spot and took it coming out of Turn 2. Edwards claimed the lead going into Lap 8. Meanwhile, Kenny Wallace and Dave Blaney went to the garage.

By lap 11, Mikey was up to 8th. He was 7th when the caution came out.

The yellow flag waved for the first time on lap 22 for Kevin Hamlin. His #52 Chevrolet had been free, and he lost grip and rear-ended the wall hard. Thirty-two of forty-one drivers made stops. Daryl Harr was held a lap for passing the pace car under yellow in his first Nationwide start.

Mikey stayed on track and led the restart on lap 28. Kyle Busch took the lead on the backstretch. Moments later, Edwards slammed into the back of Mikey and sent the #99 backwards into the wall.

"I didn't do anything," Mikey said over the #99 team's frequency.

"He just drove up all over you," crew chief Jerry Baxter replied. "Drive it back to the garage. It looks pretty hurt. You all right, Mike?"

"Yeah."

Under the second caution, Edwards spoke to crew chief Jason Radcliffe about the incident. "Hey man, I don't know if you saw that, Jason. Right here, he just run me right to the fence. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, it's just racing," Radcliffe replied. "You got a long way to go. Put it out of your head. That's fine. Stuff happens. We'll just get back to racing here."

Edwards led the restart, but Mikey was in the garage. The #99 team soon announced they were out. Pit reporter Shannon Spake caught up with Mikey and asked him what happened.

"I think I got run over," Mikey replied. "First, I'd like to say thanks to Best Western for sponsoring my car and for the relief they've provided back in Tennessee. That was terrible last week, over in Nashville. They're stepping up and taking care of a lot of good folks. Thanks to Best Western for that.

"Secondly," Mikey continued, "what the heck? I mean, I just got run over. It's crazy, man, you know? I was on older tires, my guys told me to stay out. There was no excuse for him.

"Carl is always sorry though, so I'm sure I have that going for me."

As the race unfolded, Edwards suffered a broken valve. A pit reporter caught up with him when his #60 ultimately went to the garage. After talking about his car, Carl said, "It's probably that instant karma from running into the back of Michael Waltrip. It've got to apologise to him and his fans. I got in a bit of a hurry there."

Edwards' "bit of a hurry" relegated Mikey to a 40th place finish.