Edwards hopes past AMS success carries into Sunday

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Atlanta Motor Speedway's asphalt surface is bumpy and abrasive, but for Carl Edwards, it's almost perfect.

Edwards finished third in his first Cup Series visit to the place in 2004, won his first race there the following year and visited Victory Lane the last time NASCAR's premier series was here. So he has a special place in his heart for AMS.

"The track is real slippery," Edwards said. "It's pretty wild. That's fun, though. I like this place when it's like that.

"It's a track that you can run three-wide on, but, at the same time the car moves around quite a bit. It's totally different from a place like Charlotte or Las Vegas, where the car is really nailed down. You can get a little aggressive with the wheel here. It's fun."

In Saturday's final tuneup for the Kobalt Tools 500, Edwards showed why he's among the favorites, despite having to start 29th on Sunday. His No. 99 Ford was clocked at 179.522 mph, easily topping the charts. Edwards was followed by Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Roush Racing teammate Jamie McMurray. Pole-sitter Mark Martin was ninth.

The session was completed with no major incidents.

Edwards seemed well on his way to victory here last spring, but was sidelined by engine troubles. That was also the case last weekend at Las Vegas, but Edwards isn't concerned that this constitutes a trend.

"No, the engine isn't a worry for me this week just because last week the problems were things that just happened with engines," Edwards said. "It wasn't something, I don't think, that's necessarily gonna show up again. It's not like a problem we're looking into overall or anything."

The key to running well at Atlanta, according to Edwards, is being able to work your way through traffic on old tires.

"It seems like the tires are gonna fall off quite a bit, which I think is great for the racing," Edwards said. "We talk about how hard it is to pass and how many passes you don't see. Well, if the tires don't fall off, you're gonna see passing because there will be guys who gamble and stay out and guys who get new tires and come through the field."

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Four years ago, Edwards had had some success in the Truck ranks, but was still an unknown entity at the Cup level. But winning at Atlanta earned him deserving attention -- and validated his own aspirations.

"That day in 2005 here in March, that was a career-changing day for sure," Edwards said. "The idea that you cross the finish line, and I try to explain this to people, but up until that point I didn't really think of winning the races at this level. It was a goal, but I didn't think of it as a realistic thing.

"I don't know why. We crossed that finish line and I thought, 'Man, I think the race is over and I think I beat him.' I guess that's it. That's winning a race. I kind of went through my mind, 'Why did I win? Did something happen? Did we get lucky? No, we just had a good race and we won.' That was a whole big shift in thinking for me."

After his 17th-place finish at Las Vegas, Edwards is ninth in the points -- and perhaps more telling, has only led three laps this season. That's not the start most people envisioned for a driver expected to seriously challenge for the championship. But Edwards said there's a lot of time left.

"It's still so early," Edwards said. "This weekend, next weekend, if we can have a couple good runs, it'll be great.

"Jimmie [Johnson] sure didn't get off to a stellar start last year. It only matters to get into that Chase and then to be good in that last 10 races. We've got our heads up. I would have loved to have won the last three races, but that's just the way it is."