With 25 laps to go, Biffle, Edwards and Ragan occupied the top three spots, respectively. But Edwards and Ragan both dropped back when the inside line got a good run.
Biffle remained at or near the front for the remainder of the race, though. On the third attempt at a green-white-checkered restart, Biffle pushed Jamie McMurray, a good friend and a former Roush Fenway teammate, to the front down the backstretch with a lap and a half to go. McMurray went on to earn his first Daytona 500 victory.
“I was trying to get us both out front so that I’d have a shot at making a move on him on the last lap,” Biffle told ESPN.com. “That’s the best spot to win from, is follow-the-leader. And I was glad to get out of that gaggle of cars. Going three-wide and people slamming each other, then we’re in big trouble. But if we can get singled out, we can push out there, and that’s where you get your best opportunity.”
Biffle’s last-lap pass attempt fell short, though, as McMurray held on for the win. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ended up passing Biffle for second with an incredible run from 10th place to second in just two laps.
“I just made my move too soon, a mistake on my part probably,” Biffle told The Associated Press. “This is a big, big win for anybody’s career. You got to be happy for anybody that ever wins this race. I was especially happy, the guys I was up there beating and banging with, you know, I would rather see Jamie win than those guys.”
Edwards was actually ahead of Biffle for the final restart thanks to some bold pit strategy. After a caution on lap 195 (of a scheduled 200), many teams decided to head down pit road for fresh tires. But Edwards and his Aflac team elected to stay out to gain track position, a choice that moved them from 18th up to 11th.
Edwards drove his way up to eighth for the second green-white-checkered restart, and was sitting in third for the last restart. He attempted to charge to the front by moving to the middle of the track, but no one went with him and he wound up getting shuffled back to ninth.
“I thought we were going to have a shot at the win if Jeff Burton would have gone with me,” Edwards said. “We just got hung out at the end and fell back to ninth. I’m disappointed to not get a better finish, but I’m also happy about how well we ran today and what a great job the guys did in the pits. They gained spots for me on pit road all day and if they keep that up every week we’ll be in a great position to win some races.”
