WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- On Sunday, Carl Edwards battled the elements. On Monday, he was in his own.

For a guy who once used a Swiffer to try and improve his visibility during a downpour, Carl Edwards was ready for anything at Watkins Glen International this weekend. When wet weather postponed the race from Sunday to Monday, Edwards was one of the few in the garage area genuinely disappointed that NASCAR didn't have a ready supply of rain tires.

“

I wanted to win this thing really badly. One of my goals this year was to win a road course race. But third place, I'll take it.

”

-- CARL EDWARDS

"Yesterday, I wanted to race real bad in the wet, but it turned out great for us," Edwards said.

Edwards couldn't have asked for better circumstances. A track made slick by overnight rain, followed by abundant sunshine, caused the competition to slip, slide and skid around the 2.45-mile road course. But not Edwards. He worked his way up from his 33rd starting position into the top 10 by the halfway point and to third by the checkered flag, trailing only Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose at the end of 90 laps.

"For me, the slicker it is on the race track and the hotter it is outside, the better off we are," he said. "So I really liked that a lot. I can only assume that Tony's leaning on his dirt experience and all of the open-wheel stuff that he's done to drive on that kind of race track, and I know that I really enjoy it. When it's like that, it's a lot of fun. So it's good for me."

Edwards credited perfect pit strategy for helping get his No. 99 Ford to the front, allowing him to record his fourth consecutive top-10 finish at Watkins Glen and his best-ever road-course finish.

"From 33rd to third, that was a good, solid day for us," Edwards said. "I'm really proud of my guys for the strategy. It was great. I ran out of fuel on the last lap, the light was on and [the engine] was missing. A perfect day for points for us." (Continued)