Coughlin entered the event 49 points ahead of Jason Line, who also lost in the semifinals. Due to his superior qualifying effort, Coughlin actually gained a few points in the rankings and leaves Bristol with a 52-point advantage.

Mike Edwards claimed his second win of the season and 17th of his career, beating final round opponent Greg Anderson with a track record time of 6.633 at 207.72 in his ART Pontiac GXP. Anderson's Summit Racing GXP trailed Edwards with a performance of 6.658 at 207.94.  (Chris Haverly photo)

"We just ran so good," Edwards said. "Every run it just seemed like we got a little bit better, and I can't believe we ran this good every run. Eight runs, and we were the fastest car every run down the track. I don't know if people really know how hard it is in this class to win one of these races. I respect Greg Anderson and Jason Line, Warren and Kurt Johnson, and everybody. They're the guys you want to try to beat because they've been up there so long. To beat those guys, I just never dreamed I could be this competitive in this class, and to run like this is just an awesome feeling."

Edwards, who was the No. 1 qualifier, zoomed past David Beckley in the first round, used a perfect .000 reaction time to beat Kurt Johnson in the second round and had another stellar reaction of .010 against Jason Line in the semis to move to the final round.

Mike Edwards  (Ron Lewis photo)

Erica Enders was on the outside looking in at Bristol. She was joined by Dave Northrop, Steve Spiess, Bob Benza, V. Gaines and John Gaydosh Jr.  (Ron Lewis photo)

Warren Johnson wasn’t too happy about his weekend. He lost in the first round to Ron Krisher.  (Ron Lewis photo)

"I have a wonderful team," Edwards said. "These guys, they work so hard. We have just tested and tested and tested, and it's paying off for us. My guys just work endless hours. Boy it feels good to do this. I've always wanted to win this race. There is a lot of tradition around here with that big old circle track over there. You get chills just being around here, so this feels good."