Nascar Race Today

Sprint Cup drivers had to wait through more than five hours of rain delays to finish Sunday's race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Carl Edwards didn't mind.

Edwards came on strong late in the race and held off surprising Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Aric Almirola for his third win at Bristol.

MORE: Bristol results | Hill slams into Kenseth

Edwards beat Almirola on the final restart with 40 laps remaining and pulled away while Almirola and Stenhouse battled for second. Stenhouse held off Almirola for second, followed by Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne.

Edwards had a comfortable lead when the caution lights came on accidentally with three laps remaining. When it immediately started raining again under caution, NASCAR decided to call the race, handing Edwards his 22nd career victory.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who started the season with a win and three top-two finishes, struggled and finished 24th to fall to second in points. Danica Patrick, Stenhouse's girlfriend, had her best finish of the season in 18th.

The race was delayed by more than five hours by rain. The start was delayed by two hours, and the field ran just 117 laps before the race was halted by more rain. It was red-flagged for three hours, 18 minutes before resuming under the lights at 7:17 p.m.

Like the Daytona 500, which was delayed by more than seven hours by rain, the racing was fast and furious after the rain delay, with drivers racing hard side-by-side and bumper-to-bumper.

Edwards was running second to Kevin Harvick when a caution flag flew with 75 laps remaining. While most of the leaders pitted, Edwards stayed out, inheriting the lead and setting him up for the final run to the checkered.

"Aric and those guys at the front, I don't know if I could have gotten by them. That was a gutsy call," Edwards said of crew chief Jimmy Fennig.

An incident with 50 laps to go took out three top contenders, including Harvick, whose car started smoking, causing him to hit the wall.

As he Harvick slowed, Brad Keselowski slammed into the rear of Jamie McMurray's car. McMurray and Keselowski both had run at the front early in the race.

Roush Fenway Racing swept the top two spots, while Ford teams finished first, second, third and fifth. The runnerup finish was the best of Stenhouse's Cup career. Prior to the season, he was reunited with Mike Kelly, who led him to two Nationwide Series championships.

"Mike Kelly got us rolling pretty good," Stenhouse said. "This is a track we were good at in Nationwide, and it's good to have him back and be running up front again. It's a lot of fun coming back here and running in the top five."

The win was Edwards' third at Bristol - all at night, though this one was supposed to be run during the day. He came on strong late in the race after struggling most of the weekend. The victory also locks him into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

"I can't believe we turned it around. It was terrible on Saturday. Jimmy is the man," he said. "We're in the Chase and we're going to win this championship."

Keselowski rallied to finish second - without a hood on his car - after the late wreck and took over the points lead. He leads Earnhardt by 10 points, followed by Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano.

Kenseth made a dramatic comeback after being involved in a wreck shortly after the race went back to green after the rain delay. Kenseth held the lead when the race resumed and was running second when Timmy Hill slammed into him from behind under caution. Cole Whitt spun, knocking Danica Patrick into the wall and causing Kenseth to check up. Hill didn't slow down enough under caution and slammed into Kenseth, damagin the rear of his car.

"I saw the 26 spin, but by the time I got the communication, it was too late," Hill said. "It's on me, really."

After pitting for repairs, Kenseth was 30th on the ensuing restart, but in just 40 laps, he was running seventh. By Lap 275, he was second and passed Kahne to regain the lead on Lap 285.

Kenseth lost the lead on pit road on Lap 396, and then lost several positions on the track when he got loose, scrubbed the wall and nearly wrecked. He finished 13th.

Kyle Busch also had an adventurous race. A five-time winner at Bristol, Busch led early, but got caught on pit road when he had to pit under green and then a caution flag came out. He battled back, but spun on Lap 394 and finished 29th.

His brother, Kurt, also got caught in Kyle's crash, clipping his car and then hitting the wall. He finished 35th.

Jimmie Johnson, who has struggled at Bristol over the years, also had a bad night, suffering a flat tire early in the race that him two laps down. He finished 19th.