WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Since losing the Sprint Cup title last year to Tony Stewart by the slimmest of margins, Carl Edwards has struggled.

It’s been 54 races since his last Cup victory — at Las Vegas in March 2011 — and he’s fallen out of the top 10 in points this year, in desperate need of a win to make the Chase for the championship.

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Carl Edwards stands atop his car after winning the Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., on Saturday. Edwards, running his first Nationwide race this season, held off fellow Sprint Cup driver Brad Keselowski. The Associated Press

He can still wheel it in the Nationwide series, though, and proved it Saturday. Edwards won his first start of the season in the series, holding off nemesis Brad Keselowski on two late restarts at Watkins Glen International.

“We got the trophy, and that is nice to win a race,” said Edwards, who stuck his customary back flip off his car afterward. “We really need to win a race in the Cup series. I think this will help with that. It never hurts to get to Victory Lane.

“The back flip I was a little nervous about. I haven’t done one of those for a while. I had to stop and think, OK, feet over the head, look at the ground. I’ve been watching a lot of the Olympics, but that doesn’t seem to help when you have to do it yourself.”

While Edwards was smiling, Keselowski grimaced. Edwards missed a shift as the two raced to the white flag and banged Keselowski’s No. 22 Dodge into the wall.

“He came up the track and hit me, put me in the wall there,” Keselowski said. “That kind of took away all of my momentum. I didn’t have a chance after that.”

Edwards qualified 18th for Sunday’s Cup race at Watkins Glen, the Finger Lakes 355, and Keselowski will start fourth.

Maybe that’s a good thing considering their history.

“I didn’t pull any aggressive moves out of the arsenal,” said Keselowski, who started fourth Saturday and led a race-high 44 laps. “Whether it (the hit by Edwards) was intentional, obviously, I don’t need to start any trouble over here in this series when I have the Chase coming around. I kind of feel like I gave away a little bit of a win. I’m banking on nice-guy points on that one.”

SPRINT CUP: A year ago, Marcos Ambrose outdueled Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski in a green-white-checkered finish at Watkins Glen International for his first and only Sprint Cup victory. Ambrose was fast in Friday’s rain-shortened practice and qualified fifth Saturday.

A victory Sunday in the Finger Lakes 355 would vault Ambrose and Richard Petty Motorsports into the wild-card picture for the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, though he’s somewhat far back in points (tied with Joey Logano for 18th place) and likely would need another win to have a chance to make the 12-car postseason field.

Ambrose has one win and four top-fives at Watkins Glen for an average finish of 2.3 and an average green flag speed of nearly 120 mph.

Both are tops in the series, making Ambrose a driver to be reckoned with.

Though he’s desperate for a victory on an oval track, Ambrose likes what RPM has done this season. Ambrose has won his first two career poles this year and has five top-10s.

“We’re proud of winning the race here last year and we’re pleased with how we’ve gone this year,” Ambrose said. “We’re not a super team, but we’re a really strong two-car team, probably one of the strongest out there right now. We feel like we’ve had a good year, but not a great year, and we need to finish off really strong.”

This will be the first race since Dodge announced Tuesday that it was leaving NASCAR at season’s end. For Ambrose, who drives the No. 9 Ford for RPM, it’s not good news.

“RPM is still looking at all their options as far as manufacturers go,” said Ambrose, who won the pole on the road course at Sonoma in June but finished sixth. “I think for the sport, Dodge pulling out was not a great thing. It’s been really healthy to have four manufacturers in the sport, so as a fan of NASCAR I’m disappointed that Dodge made that choice, but I understand it.

• Juan Pablo Montoya prefers running up front, and it grates on him when he doesn’t.

For the second straight week, he has no reason to beat himself up going into the race.

Montoya shattered the Sprint Cup qualifying record at Watkins Glen. He won the pole for Sunday’s race with a lap around the 11-turn, 2.45-mile layout in 69.438 seconds at 127.020 mph.

Kyle Busch set the track record of 69.767 seconds at 126.421 mph a year ago.

OXFORD PLAINS: Billy Childs Jr. of Leeds edged Tim Brackett of Buckfield to earn his second win of the season in the Late Model division.

Other feature winners were Matt Williams of Brownfield, Strictly Stock; Jimmy Childs of Leeds, Mini Stock; and Gerry Freve of Buckfield and Guy Childs of Turner, Outlaws.

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