NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Kyle Busch, Edwards Reappear
Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards running well outside Chase…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted October 15, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Kyle Busch, driver of the No.18 M&M's Toyota, stands next to his car on the grid. (Photo: Getty Images)
Kyle Busch. Carl Edwards. Remember them?

The two biggest Sprint Cup drivers not in the Chase field have had some steady runs while racing out of the spotlight since the beginning of the playoffs.

Busch has finished in the top seven in four of the five Chase races, a record matched by Edwards, who perhaps endured the most down-side publicity after he failed to make the Chase lineup one season removed from almost winning the championship.

Busch was fourth at Chicago, seventh at Dover, third at Talladega and fifth in Saturday night’s fuel-mileage scramble at Charlotte. His only sour Chase race was Loudon, where he finished 28th.

Edwards has fifths at Chicago and Loudon, sevenths at Talladega and Charlotte and a 15th at Dover.

Both drivers are building toward 2013 while trying to score a win in one or more of the season’s closing races. Busch’s only win this season came at Richmond in the spring, and Edwards, inexplicably, hasn’t won since March of 2011 at Las Vegas.

Edwards progressed steadily from a 19th-place starting position at Charlotte Saturday night and rolled into second in the final 100 miles of the race. The run gave him hope for improved performances at the remaining 1.5-mile tracks this year.

“Our focus was going as fast as we could, and I think we showed a little more promise tonight than we have in a long time,” Edwards said after the race. “We got up there. We drove our way all the way to second on one run. It’s been a long time since we’ve been this competitive on a mile-and-a-half, so I’m very happy with it. Hopefully, we can build on this.”

Next up is Kansas, which Edwards considers his home track.

“Now we go to Kansas, which is another track a lot like this, and we’ll build on this and hopefully get that first win of the season,” he said. “That would be huge. I don’t know what I’d do if we won at Kansas. I don’t party much, but it would be a heck of a party. We’d have some fun.”

Busch scored his ninth top five run of the season – easily the best total of the non-Chase group – Saturday night to solidify his 13th-place spot in the standings – or the best non-Chaser.

“Darn fuel mileage played against us again, but it’s good for the 11 (teammate Denny Hamlin, who finished second) and those guys,” Busch said. “They come home second. The M&M’s Camry was fast, and the guys worked hard all weekend. I really can’t say enough about them, but it just wasn’t there for us at the end with the strategy and everything. We came home OK.”

Neither Edwards nor Busch has won a race at Kansas in 10 tries, but Edwards has the better record, having finished in the top 10 eight times, with four runs in the top five. Busch has only two top-10 finishes.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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