Carl Edwards wins Food City 500

Carl Edwards led all 276 laps and survived a couple of late restarts to win a caution-filled Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

It is Edwards' 26th career victory, but his first of 2016 in a race which included 15 cautions - the most in a Bristol event since there were 15 cautions in the 2007 spring race.

Edwards' Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates were responsible for several of those cautions. Series leader Kyle Busch, who had won the past two Sprint Cup races and had six top-fives in the first seven races, struggled with tyre problems throughout the race and completed only 258 laps to finish 38th.

"I’m not sure what started it, but we were a little snug early on in the first run of the race," Busch told reporters.

"As the car would run more and more laps it would get tighter and tighter, that’s the weirdest thing that I've felt all day and all weekend we haven't had that problem. … I don't know why it kept getting tighter and why we were blowing right fronts."

Busch's team-mate, Matt Kenseth, also had tyre issues. Although he led 142 laps, he blew two right-front tyres and finished 36th.

Edwards said he was well aware his team-mates were having tyre issues.

"There was some concern, but for some reason, our car, we didn't have any of those issues," Edwards told Fox Sports after the race. "This team is awesome.

"There were so many different things happening out there. … It's a real testament to my team, who have all been working hard."

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who fell down two laps when his car lost power because of a balky electronic control unit at the start of the race, fought back to finish second.

Kurt Busch finished third, while Chase Elliott and Trevor Bayne completed the top five. It was Bayne's first top-five finish since he won the 2011 Daytona 500.

Edwards' win earns him a spot in the Chase, an accomplishment every driver is eager to get out of the way early in the season.

"Now we're in the Chase," he said. "We can go have some fun."

Finishing Order for the Food City 500

1 Carl Edwards 2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3. Kurt Busch 4. Chase Elliott 5. Trevor Bayne 6. Matt DiBenedetto 7. Kevin Harvick 8. Clint Bowyer 9. Ryan Newman 10.Joey Logano 11. Ryan Blaney 12. Greg Biffle 13. Jamie McMurray 14. Martin Truex Jr. 15. Paul Menard 16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17. Kasey Kahne 18. Brad Keselowski 19. AJ Allmendinger 20. Denny Hamlin 21. Chris Buescher 22. Landon Cassill 23. Jimmie Johnson 24. Casey Mears 25. Ty Dillon 26. Austin Dillon 27. Danica Patrick 28. Cole Whitt 29. Michael McDowell 30. Brian Scott 31. Michael Annett 32. Jeffrey Earnhardt 33. Josh Wise 34. Aric Almirola 35. Kyle Larson 36. Matt Kenseth 37. Regan Smith 38. Kyle Busch 39. David Ragan 40. Reed Sorenson