AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Carl Edwards has had a great year.

Seriously, folks. He has.

He married Kate Downey in January, and now the couple is happily expecting their first child. That's the important stuff in life.

So what if Edwards has yet to win a Sprint Cup race, with time fast running out on the 2009 season in which he was considered by many as the pre-season favorite to challenge Jimmie Johnson for the championship? So what if Edwards had to suffer through what he jokingly now calls "the agony of de feet" after suffering a broken foot while throwing Frisbee, of all things? So what if he looked like he was going to win the spring race at Talladega and he nearly ended up in the frontstretch grandstands instead?

Edwards said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway that he feels blessed, and he certainly seems happy. He said he's gained a greater perspective on life, and on racing.

"I do my absolute best every time I climb into a race car. If I do that and it isn't good enough, I can still live with the results," Edwards.

That isn't to say that Edwards doesn't get frustrated, disappointed and/or downright ticked off at times -- or sometimes all at once in a tangled web of emotions. But when he has a moment to sit back and think about it all in the grand scheme of life, he said he's better able to cope with it and figure out what he might be able to do to improve even a dire situation.

This time last year, Edwards was locked into a two-man battle with Johnson in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. And although it was almost a foregone conclusion that Johnson would win his third consecutive title -- he held a 106-point lead on Edwards heading into the Phoenix race last fall -- it was Edwards and not Johnson who was the hottest driver in NASCAR at the time.

He entered Phoenix having owned the two previous races and eight overall for the season. He made it a series-high nine by capturing the season finale at Homestead a week later. Winning seemed, well, almost easy for Edwards in his No. 99 Ford.

But it didn't carry over to the 2009 Cup season. Remarkably, he has yet to win a single Cup race this year.

"If winning bred winning, we'd have won plenty this year. We were so good last season. But it doesn't really work like that," Edwards said. "You show up at the race track -- and first of all, you have to be fast enough to win. Otherwise, you can't really plan on winning. Then if you're fast enough to win, things have to go your way. If they go your way, you might win." (Continued)