He couldn’t stand on his own two feet and was probably eligible for a handicapped parking sticker, but somehow Carl Edwards drove his #60 Scotts Wild Bird Food Ford to a win in the inaugural Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night. The victory was Edwards fourth in the Nationwide Series this season and his 24th career win. It also marked the third time that Edwards won a Nationwide race in Richmond.

Edwards made an amazing run taking a 39th place start and turning it into a 1st place finish but even more impressive was the fact that Edwards was driving on one good foot. Edwards broke his right foot in two places during a Frisbee game two weeks ago and has since been limited to getting around on crutches. But that didn’t stop him for fast-footing it up through the pack to the win.

Team owner Jack Roush pointed out that the ailment was not a detriment to Edwards driving. “It wasn’t a footrace it was an automobile race,” he said.

Despite driving with one good foot, the closest Edwards came to an accident during practice when he attempted to break with his broken foot. “I was driving to the garage earlier today and Jimmie (Johnson) stopped in front of me and we were both going about four miles an hour,” Edwards said. “I had my left foot on the clutch to keep it running and I thought, ‘well, I’ll just try. I couldn’t stop so I hit Jimmie, so that put a lot of confidence in the rest of the people standing around in the garage.

“But I break with my left foot and that works well,” Edwards said. “The throttle doesn’t require hardly any pressure so that’s very fortunate that it’s my right foot I had trouble with.”

Edwards started in the back of the pack due to a spark plug problem during qualifying but he attributed his rapid advance through the ranks to Crew Chief Dan Stillman. “Dan had great pit strategy and unreal pit stops,” Edwards said. “My guys did an unreal job on pit row.”

Roush also praised the work of Stillman. “He never called a better race than he called tonight,” Roush said. “All good changes and communicating with Carl.”

For much of the race it looked as if hometown favorite Denny Hamlin in the #20 Z-Designs/Operation Helmet Toyota would race away with the trophy. Hamlin took the pole in qualifying and led 101 of the 250 laps.

But on laps 204, Hamlin went sideways in turn four as he battled Kevin Harvick for the lead. Hamlin brushed Harvick’s #33 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet, keeping control of his car and staying out of the wall but losing his front right tire and any chance for victory.

“Everybody was just slipping and sliding at that point and I think he just got loose and got into the side of me a little bit,” Harvick said. “No harm, no foul. We were just racing hard, a few doughnuts down the side and that was it.”

Edwards had a good view of the action, trailing closely behind the pair. “That race between those two guys, they came off turn four that was wild,” he said. “That was insane, those guys did a great job.”

By lap 100, Edwards had worked his way up to 6th place and from there the battle was on as he gradually made his move forward.

Coming out of their final pit stop, Edwards beat out Harvick for the lead and never looked back. “There at the end, my guys put me in the lead on pit road and that’s’ what it took,” Edwards said. “Once we got out front it was a rocket ship so they made my job really easy.”

On the other hand Harvick could not find what he needed. “I couldn’t quite get going on like I needed to on that last caution where we pumped the tires up and got the car a little bit too tight.”

Brad Keselowski led 70 laps early in the race but fell back as the race reached its midway point but recovered for a fourth place finish.

Points leader Kyle Busch ran out front for 30 laps while Harvick had 24 laps in the lead.

Edwards, who is known for his victorious back flip off his car came up with a backup plan just in case he won on Friday night. “One of our guys, Mike Riggs; I was supposed to stop in the grass and he was going to attempt a back flip off the car,” Edwards said. “But I don’t think he’s ever successfully back flipped. I think he was just planning on the emotion and the energy of the moment to make it work. He was really upset that I didn’t stop down there but I’m really glad I forgot about that because he probably would have needed medical attention.”