Stewart, Edwards rally to keep alive title aspirations

DOVER, Del. -- If either Tony Stewart or Carl Edwards happen to be holding the Sprint Cup trophy at the end of this season, they may look at Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway as a pivotal point. Both drivers showed patience after early misfortune could have put a stake in their championship hopes, and both wound up with finishes that keep them in contention.

Smoke alarm

Watch from Tony Stewart's in-car camera as he helplessly sends Joey Logano careening.

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Involved in the accident that caused Joey Logano to flip more than seven times, Stewart rallied to finish ninth. Struggling all day with a car that didn't have the speed to match the leaders, Edwards persevered for 11th. And both cases, each driver may have gotten the most from the least on a day when trouble seemed to lurk around every corner.

Stewart is now fifth in the points, 106 behind Mark Martin. Edwards is 11th, 153 out -- but with eight races remaining, anything can (and probably will) happen.

"I can't say I'm satisfied because I still lost points," Stewart said. "That's how competitive this Chase is, too -- I got a top-10 and I'm not happy with it. I'm proud of the effort from the team, really proud of that. We dodged another bullet."

Edwards concurred.

"That's the best possible finish we could've hoped for with this race car," he said. "I'm really proud of my guys on pit road. They did a good job. [Crew chief Bob Osborne] made good calls, but our mousetrap just wasn't good enough [Sunday]. Matt [Kenseth] was good, so we'll go back and learn from that. It's frustrating, but not as bad as it could've been, you know?"

Both drivers were coming off a less-than-stellar effort at New Hampshire -- Stewart finished 14th and Edwards three places worse -- and were in desperate need of some positive momentum coming to the Monster Mile. However, poor qualifying runs relegated Stewart to start 22nd and Edwards 30th, leaving both deep in the pack, a situation that would play a factor early on. (Continued)