NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Carl Edwards is fine with substantive design and rule changes NASCAR is contemplating -- most notably a switch from a wing to a blade spoiler on the Sprint Cup car.

Edwards, however, would like to see the spoiler as short as possible and downforce at a minimum.

"I'd much rather have no downforce," Edwards said Saturday during an appearance at the Sound & Speed charity event at the Municipal Auditorium. "I was beating up on [NASCAR vice president of competition] Robin Pemberton to make that spoiler about an inch high, just something to keep the rear end from coming off the ground.

"That'd be fine with me. If that's the direction we're going, then I'm 100 percent all for it. You can soften the tires then, you can drive the car sideways, you'd theoretically be able to handle behind someone because you aren't relying on downforce as much -- I think all those things are good."

Edwards made his feelings known during a recent series of meetings between race teams and NASCAR brass.

"I know it's not a popular opinion," Edwards said. "I brought that up in those town-hall meetings, and people would think I'm crazy, but let's race. This isn't IndyCar racing. It isn't Formula One. We're not supposed to be racing like that. I'm fine with spinning the tires all the way around the race track.

"I told them to fix Talladega by putting a sprinkler up and spray water on the track."

The return to a spoiler -- one larger than Edwards says he'd like to see -- likely will come by mid-April, after a full-field test at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Easteroff week for the Cup Series. If NASCAR's willingness to consider implementing a significant design change on its Cup car is a departure from business as usual so, Edwards believes, is the sanctioning body's active pursuit of input from its major stakeholders. (Continued)