Edwards' wild week ends on another bad note at LMS (cont'd)

As for Kenseth, the look on his face leaving the infield care center was similar to the one he wore in Talladega -- grim.

For the second week in a row, the No. 17 Ford was caught up in a multi-car wreck. This time the melee happened on Lap 194 in Turn 4 starting with Paul Menard. Kenseth slowed for the wreck between Menard, Bill Elliott and Tony Raines and got ran over by Travis Kvapil.

"We really struggled with our Fusion, but Chip [Bolin, crew chief] made a lot of really good adjustments," Kenseth said. "We actually had it a lot better there. I think we were probably close to a top-10 car. It's nowhere where we want to be, but it was getting better. I was just slowing up for the accident and got run over."

As for his Chase campaign, Kenseth said it has "borderlined on miserable" after dropping two positions to 11th in the standings.

"There have been a couple of bright spots, but even when things go right they go wrong," he said. "At Kansas we had a really good car, got wrecked there. Got wrecked last weekend with a really good car and then couldn't really do a lot about any of that stuff, I don't think. It's just been one of those months. Hopefully, it will get better."

Chase drivers Tony Stewart, who finished 11th, and Kyle Busch, who was fourth, both served pass-through penalties Saturday night after NASCAR officials caught them speeding entering pit road.

It was Stewart's third speeding violation of the Chase. The No. 20 was issued a speeding penalty at Kansas Speedway as well as New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Still, one might say Stewart's pit-road violations pale in comparison to Edwards' storm of recent issues.

From wrecking his teammates in Talladega to getting wrapped up in a physical altercation with another competitor this week and finally his 33rd-place finish at LMS, Edwards admits he has made some bad decisions and allowed his critics to upset him.

"It's not been a good seven days," he said. "I truly believe that the only place I failed this week was to let things get to me. You can't control anything but your attitude and I let myself down a little bit this week on that. I have to work on that. [Saturday] was another good test. You have to focus and stay positive, because the worst thing you can do is get down."

What keeps Edwards from unraveling is crew chief Bob Osborne.

Once the No. 99 returned to the track after ignition repairs and also a bobble on pit road, Osborne advised his driver, no longer in contention for the win, to merely "survive."

"The big thing here is to survive, stay out of all the trouble and I hate to say this but hopefully our competitors will struggle like we have," Osborne told his driver.

"It ain't pretty, but it's what we've got," replied Edwards. "This has not been a good week, so we'll just mark this one off the calendar and get better."

"That's a big 10-4 bud; attitude is everything," Osborne said.

Conversations and rapport like that is what Edwards relies on inside the car.

"Bob is great for a lot of reasons," Edwards said. "I know he would stand behind me no matter what and that means the world to me."

Heading to Martinsville next week, Edwards is 168 points away from Chase leader Jimmie Johnson.

"This thing is far from over, but we need to do better than this. Seems like the more I do or say this week the worse off I am," he said. "So I've never been more excited to race in Martinsville in my life."