The NASCAR Nationwide Series had traveled to the Iowa Speedway in August 2011 for the second time that year. It was the first time the promotion held two races in the same year at the track which made the coming a special one. Over 48,000 fans were packed in the stands wanting to witness a thrilling race around the short oval and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. delivered alongside Carl Edwards.
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The Roush Fenway Racing teammates were cruising in the final lap towards a 1-2 victory when a white plume of smoke escaped the rear of Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 6 car. The disturbance blinded Edwards who slid and crashed square into his teammate. Thankfully, the contact did not cause them to go wayward and only pushed them both across the finish line in the already set order.
The duo was thrilled to be a part of this exciting finish. Stenhouse, more so, because he’d won the year’s maiden race at Iowa as well. “It was a close one but we made it,” he said to the press. “He hit us pretty square and shot us across the finish line.” He’d led only 25 laps throughout the race but that was all that mattered towards the end. Edwards led 109 laps in comparison.
One of the WILDEST FINISHES in NASCAR history.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carl Edwards finished 1-2 at Iowa Speedway, but both of their cars would end up DESTROYED. pic.twitter.com/ZOaiuTjHSS
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 11, 2024
He said, regardless of the disappointment of not being able to win, “I still haven’t seen the replay with the audio, but that’s the most amazing finish I’ve been involved with in a long time. That was spectacular.” He did not rule out the possibility that his teammate might be pissed off at him and was sure that they would resolve matters in the shop. They did, but not before some tension.
Why Edwards flipped Stenhouse Jr. off during the race
What goes unnoticed when recalling this race is that the teammates had made contact with each other early on. This led to Edwards flipping his teammate off as they drove down the back straightaway. Though Stenhouse had been mad initially at this, being able to win balanced his mind. He told ESPN, “I’d be maybe a little sour about it if we wouldn’t have won. Winning cures a lot of things.”
He also revealed that Edwards had been having issues with his aggressive racing style for a long time before then. But this did not mean that the drivers hated each other. Edwards was someone who helped Stenhouse a lot to progress his career. “It’s just a product of everybody running hard and running up front. It gets frustrating sometimes,” he added.
