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NASCAR's longest day turned into its most strategic night.

Behind the strategy of new crew chief Darian Grubb, Carl Edwards was able to cruise to the checkered flag in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway. The victory is Edwards' 24th of his career and his first win in Charlotte's 600-mile event.

Edwards lost the championship on a tiebreaker in 2011 when Grubb's strategy propelled Tony Stewart to a victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The title run shortcoming fueled Edwards desire to work with Grubb and believes the crew chief's call won the race.

"That's what made the race for us," Edwards admitted. "Darian (Grubb) does such a good job, and ever since Tony (Stewart) and I battled for that championship; I've wanted to work with him and now I can. That's what he does on the box - he takes a mediocre day like that, and he puts us in a good position."

The win is the first for Edwards in his debut season as a member of Joe Gibbs Racing and his first win outside of a Ford in Sprint Cup competition. The triumph also secured a Charlotte-sweep for JGR with Denny Hamlin winning last week's Sprint All-Star Race.

"JGR is back, and these Toyotas are great," Edwards said. "I was the slowest of the group tonight and I just had the best guys on the pit box here and did a great job. Subway - I will be having a Coke along with my sub sandwich this week and guacamole on that. ARRIS came on in a huge way to start this fourth team. Toyota took a chance on me - I went to Kentucky the other week and saw where these Camrys are built.

"TRD (Toyota Racing Development) has been behind me 100 percent."

Edwards' former Roush-Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle was able to use pit stop strategy to his advantage as well. Biffle scored his best finish of the Sprint Cup season finishing in second-place.

Despite the Toyota-Ford top-two finish, Biffle still believes Chevrolet is ahead of the other manufacturers.

"We certainly haven't come anywhere close to catching them. One common thread it looks like to me is Chevy," Biffle said. "It looks like they're head and shoulders better than the Toyotas and Fords because the Ganassi cars are pretty fast, all the Haas cars, which are Hendrick-affiliated, so there are really eight cars there, but the Childress cars and the single-car, 78 team, led the whole race.

"He (Martin Truex, Jr) led the whole race. He had the fastest car, so it's pretty obvious those are all Chevys. They definitely kind of have a stranglehold on it, it seems like."

Dale Earnhardt, Jr, joined the group of drivers who employed pit strategy and managed a third place finish. The finish for Earnhardt, Jr, is his best career finish in the Coca-Cola 600. Edwards' JGR teammate Matt Kenseth managed to salvage a fourth-place finish after starting from the pole but struggling for the majority of the race.

Martin Truex, Jr, appeared to have the fastest car for most of the race leading 131 laps. But Truex, Jr, came out on the wrong end of the strategy games and settled for a fifth-place finish.

Truex, Jr, hasn't enjoyed much success in races determined on fuel mileage.

"I don't know what to do about fuel mileage races," Truex, Jr, admitted. "I never, ever, ever have in my whole career. I guess I don't get good fuel mileage...It hurts to run fifth after running that hard and leading that many laps but at the same time it's pretty awesome to run like that, too. We just got to keep on plugging away and sooner or later we're going to get a little bit of luck on our side, right now we just can't get anything to go our way."

Ryan Newman finished in sixth place with Brad Keselowski finishing right behind in seventh-place. Denny Hamlin, treated for dehydration in the infield care center following the race, settled for an eighth-place finish. Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-ten.

Kyle Busch, who has missed every points-earning race this season with an injury, ran in the top-ten for most of the race but ended with an eleventh place finish. Busch's return did not come without a shred of disappointment.

"I feel pretty good, all in all, I felt like that was a great race for us," Busch said. "We ran really strong, we ran up front, we showed we had some speed. But it certainly is frustrating to finish where we did, and that's disappointing. But sometimes you win these things by fuel mileage races, so congratulations to our teammate Carl (Edwards)."

Busch knows next week's race at Dover will be another test of his physical fitness.

"This race here is actually quite relative to next week at Dover next week, this one's an endurance race for as long as it is and I think it sets you up for that Dover race," Busch added. "The Dover race is more taxing on your body, I feel like it beats you up a little more. It being 400 laps makes it a tough stretch, it may not be 600 miles but 400 laps there is certainly a long time at Dover. This was a good night to come out here - I feel good. I really didn't get tired or anything like that; I probably could go a little bit longer...about ten more laps would've been nice for us, but it is what it is."

With his top-ten finish, Kevin Harvick maintained his stranglehold on the point lead over Martin Truex, Jr, who is in second place 41 points behind.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 12
Unofficial Race Results for the 56Th Annual Coca-Cola 600 - Sunday, May 24, 2015
Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 400 Laps - 600 Miles - Purse: $6,660,588

Leader
Fin    Str    Car    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Winnings    Status    Tms    Laps
1    3    19    Carl Edwards    Subway Toyota    400    47    4    107.2    $363,390    Running    3    25
2    4    16    Greg Biffle    Ortho Ford    400    42        97.7    $277,263    Running        
3    15    88    Dale Earnhardt Jr.    Nationwide Chevrolet    400    41        105.8    $217,255    Running        
4    1    20    Matt Kenseth    DeWalt Toyota    400    41    1    98.4    $252,716    Running    2    26
5    10    78    Martin Truex Jr.    Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet    400    41    2    132.8    $182,350    Running    4    131
6    19    31    Ryan Newman    Quicken Loans Chevrolet    400    38        79.2    $166,570    Running        
7    6    2    Brad Keselowski    Miller Lite Ford    400    38    1    104.4    $172,911    Running    2    3
8    5    11    Denny Hamlin    FedEx Office Toyota    400    37    1    114.8    $143,720    Running    2    53
9    8    4    Kevin Harvick    Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevrolet    400    36    1    116.8    $174,045    Running    3    26
10    14    41    Kurt Busch    Haas Automation Chevrolet    400    35    1    122.2    $140,045    Running    3    118
11    17    18    Kyle Busch    Skittles Toyota    400    33        103.3    $157,301    Running        
12    33    5    Kasey Kahne    LiftMaster Chevrolet    400    32        87.0    $128,685    Running        
13    2    22    Joey Logano    Shell Pennzoil Ford    400    32    1    103.7    $161,793    Running    2    17
14    23    27    Paul Menard    Serta/Menards Chevrolet    400    30        91.2    $120,735    Running        
15    18    24    Jeff Gordon    Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet    400    29        82.0    $156,371    Running        
16    11    3    Austin Dillon    Cheerios Chevrolet    400    28        85.2    $147,271    Running        
17    21    43    Aric Almirola    United States Air Force Ford    399    27        72.7    $146,046    Running        
18    28    25    Chase Elliott(i)    NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet    399    0        66.5    $103,910    Running        
19    22    1    Jamie McMurray    Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet    399    25        60.3    $136,826    Running        
20    24    15    Clint Bowyer    Cherry 5-hour Energy/Special Operations Warrior     399    24        61.1    $140,368    Running        
21    12    14    Tony Stewart    Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet    399    23        64.7    $132,399    Running        
22    20    10    Danica Patrick    GoDaddy Chevrolet    398    22        58.4    $111,760    Running        
23    34    13    Casey Mears    GEICO Military Chevrolet    398    21        59.0    $128,993    Running        
24    26    9    Sam Hornish Jr.    Twisted Tea Ford    398    20        53.4    $128,305    Running        
25    9    42    Kyle Larson    Target Chevrolet    398    19        66.1    $129,468    Running        
26    31    7    Alex Bowman    Culer Chevrolet    397    18        47.6    $116,518    Running        
27    27    6    Trevor Bayne    AdvoCare Ford    397    17        47.5    $141,210    Running        
28    37    35    Cole Whitt    Speed Stick Ford    396    16        39.1    $113,343    Running        
29    30    47    AJ Allmendinger    Scott Products Chevrolet    395    15        57.3    $125,618    Running        
30    25    95    Michael McDowell    Thrivent Financial Ford    394    14        45.0    $97,335    Running        
31    40    34    Brett Moffitt #    CSX/Play It Safe Ford    393    13        36.8    $97,185    Running        
32    36    46    Michael Annett    Pilot Flying J Chevrolet    393    12        37.2    $95,560    Running        
33    39    38    David Gilliland    Love's Travel Stops Ford    392    12    1    38.3    $115,957    Running    1    1
34    42    83    Matt DiBenedetto #    Dustless Blasting Toyota    392    10        33.0    $95,285    Running        
35    38    98    Josh Wise    RoyalTeakCollection.com Ford    392    9        29.0    $98,135    Running        
36    43    33    Alex Kennedy #    HonorandRemember.org Chevrolet    389    8        26.8    $97,535    Running        
37    29    17    Ricky Stenhouse Jr.    Fastenal Ford    382    7        59.0    $102,761    Running        
38    41    23    JJ Yeley(i)    Hope for the Warriors Toyota    377    0        30.4    $89,413    Engine        
39    32    40    Landon Cassill(i)    Snap Fitness Chevrolet    375    0        38.1    $85,350    Running        
40    13    48    Jimmie Johnson    Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet    370    4        68.7    $129,286    Running        
41    7    55    David Ragan    Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota    353    3        62.7    $105,164    Engine        
42    16    21    Ryan Blaney(i)    Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford    281    0        66.6    $73,350    Engine        
43    35    51    Justin Allgaier    Brandt Chevrolet    135    1        40.2    $77,850    Accident        
 Race Comments:    Carl Edwards won the Coca-Cola 600, his 24th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.
 Failed to Qualify:    #26 Jeb Burton; #32 Mike Bliss(i); #39 Travis Kvapil(i); #30 Jeff Green(i); #62 Brendan Gaughan(i)
 Time of Race:    04 Hrs, 03 Mins, 34 Secs.    Average Speed:    147.803 MPH    Margin of Victory:    4.785 Seconds
 Caution Flags:    8 for 39 laps: Laps: 27-30 (Competition [23]); 91-94 (#48 spin turn 4 [51]); 137-141 (#51 accident turn 3 [None]); 231-235 (#6 accident turn 4 [43]); 275-278 (#48 spin turn 4 [5]); 283-291 (Oil on the track from #21 [17]); 329-332 (#46 spin backstretch [20]); 338-341 (Debris turn 4 [31]).
 Lead Changes:    22 among 9 drivers: M. Kenseth 0; C. Edwards 1-2; M. Kenseth 3-27; D. Gilliland 28; M. Kenseth 29; J. Logano 30-43; D. Hamlin 44-63; K. Harvick 64-78; Kurt Busch 79; B. Keselowski 80; K. Harvick 81-90; M. Truex Jr. 91; B. Keselowski 92-93; J. Logano 94-96; Kurt Busch 97-189; C. Edwards 190-191; M. Truex Jr. 192-236; Kurt Busch 237-260; M. Truex Jr. 261-329; D. Hamlin 330-362; M. Truex Jr. 363-378; K. Harvick 379; C. Edwards 380-400.
Chase Grid Outlook:     1.J. Johnson 393 (3 wins);2.K. Harvick 473 (2);3.J. Logano 407 (1);4.D. Earnhardt Jr. 401 (1);5.B. Keselowski 381 (1);6.M. Kenseth 372 (1);7.D. Hamlin 321 (1);8.C. Edwards 312 (1);9.M. Truex Jr. 432 (0);10.J. Mcmurray 353 (0);11.J. Gordon 346 (0);12.K. Kahne 345 (0);13.R. Newman 343 (0);14.A. Almirola 339 (0);15.P. Menard 336 (0);16.C. Bowyer 296 (0).
3M Lap Leader    : Kurt Busch, #41 118 Laps    American Ethanol Green Flag Restart    : Martin Truex Jr, #78
Coors Light Pole Award    : Matt Kenseth, #20 194.252 mph    Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race"    : Matt Kenseth, #20
Ingersoll Rand Power Move    : Dale Earnhardt Jr, #88 11 positions    Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race    : Toyota Racing Development (TRD), #20
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race    : Carl Edwards, #19     Moog Steering & Suspension Problem Solver of the Race    : Dale Earnhardt Jr, #88 G. Ives, .160 sec
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap    : Denny Hamlin, #11     Sunoco Rookie of the Race    : Brett Moffitt, #34
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    May. 31, 2015 - Dover International Speedway
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