If history repeats, then Edwards is looking good

Let's see, a monumental lead after just seven races; a string of finishes that makes it appear he may never finish outside the top 10; and a preseason favorite to win the title. Carl Edwards can shift to cruise control.

Deja vu anyone?

It's downright easy to hold Edwards' season stat sheet side-by-side with that of Kevin Harvick last year and see the similarities. And they say history repeats itself. If that's true, let's go ahead and unpack the record book before the ink dries.

As historic Harvick's season was in 2006, Edwards is off to a better start after seven races:

Edwards has two victories, back-to-back no less. Harvick, at this time last year, had none.

Edwards has a 321-point lead in the standings. Harvick's advantage was 146.

Edwards' worst finish this season is sixth at Las Vegas, and he has an average of 3.3. Harvick's worst was 11th with an average of 5.7.

At this point last year, it was anybody's title ... until Harvick rolled off three victories in four races and a second-place finish to boot. So at this point in 2007, with a bigger lead, more victories and better week-to-week performances, is it already over?

"Unless something breaks or he gets run over or something, that's the guy," David Reutimann said after last week's Nashville race, which Edwards won. "That guy's tough anywhere. We could race golf carts out here and he'd be tough."

Exactly what the No. 60 team wanted to hear in preparation for the O'Reilly 300 on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

"We are coming off back-to-back wins and we have a lot of emotion and momentum going into Texas," said Pierre Kuettel, Edwards' crew chief. "Our goal is to come out of there with a top-10 finish or better and keep our streak alive."

That streak -- consecutive top-10 finishes -- goes back to the Memphis race last year when Edwards finished third on Oct. 28. In fact, the last time Edwards did not finish in the top 10 was Oct. 13 -- Friday the 13th, of all things -- at Lowe's Motor Speedway when he fell victim to the crash-infested race under the lights. Of course, he started on the pole that day and led 123 laps so all was not lost.

Since then it's been the others who have been losing, as in losing ground to the Roush Fenway Racing driver.

Last week, a race in which only seven Cup drivers ran during their off weekend, it was prime time for the Busch regulars to make up ground on their leader. And many did.

Reutimann's second-place finish jumped him nine spots in the standings to fifth. Bobby Hamilton Jr. moved up three positions to seventh after a strong run at his home track. And Regan Smith, whose making headlines in the Cup Series for his Mark Martin relief efforts, sits 10th in points after gaining nine positions.

But in essence, it was all for naught because Edwards won the race, therefore extending his lead over everybody.

Texas could be a mirror image. He's got three top-10 finishes in four starts there. His other was a last-place showing thanks to a blown motor. The good sign for everyone else: he's only led four laps at the place. The bad sign: he's won in a Cup car there and he'll start second on Saturday behind pole-sitter David Ragan.

"Our goal is to go into Texas and extend our lead," Edwards said, showing signs of Harvick's '06 thrill of making it a one-man show. "We are carrying a lot of momentum and would love to win at that track again."