Edwards: Chase chances better because of format

Edwards, twice a winner this season in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, heads to what is considered his "home" track this weekend, with Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway (ESPN, 2 p.m. ET) kicking off the three-race Contender Round of the Chase.

The Columbia, Missouri, native is one of three Sprint Cup drivers that hail from the region -- Clint Bowyer grew up in Emporia, Kansas, while Jamie McMurray is from Joplin, Missouri.

Edwards, though, is the only one of the three still harboring championship dreams.

While his start in this year’s 10-race Chase didn't produce terrific results -- he scored a best finish of 11th last weekend at Dover -- it was enough to earn the Roush Fenway Racing driver a ticket into the next round.

And because those that advance have their points reset after each three-race segment, Edwards and his No. 99 Ford team head to Kansas on equal footing with Keselowski, Team Penske teammate Joey Logano and Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon, winners of the opening Chase races.

In fact, from Keselowski to Kasey Kahne, all 12 begin all over again, each with a 3,000-point total.

"The whole season is different now, everything is different," said Edwards, who has 23 career wins. "Before the Chase format, every single position in every single race mattered for the championship. The problem was that you could be out of it before the season was over.

"Now, every single position in every single race, they aren't as important for a number of reasons. … Once you're in the next round (by virtue of a win), it just changes."

Positions are still important in that the remaining positions in each round are filled based on points earned in the previous segment.

The pressure to perform "is more punctuated now," he said.

While past years have seen that pressure increase as the cutoff race at Richmond approached, the new format has added three more elimination races (Dover, Talladega and Phoenix) to determine which drivers move on and which are no longer competing for the championship.

"I felt a lot of pressure before we got our first win this year," Edwards said. "And I felt a lot of pressure at Dover to perform well.

"Basically the 26th race of the season for the last (10 years) has been a really pressure-packed race for a lot of people. Now we have that and three or four more in the Chase. As drivers, there are a lot more moments during the year that your whole year rides on that (one) race."

Kansas, a 1.5-mile tri-oval, is one of Edwards' better tracks, although one of 11 where he has yet to win. In 14 Sprint Cup starts there, he's scored 10 top-10 finishes. He qualified fourth there earlier this year and finished sixth.

In addition to Edwards, Keselowski, Logano and Gordon, others still in the title picture are Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne.

Those eliminated after the first round were Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, AJ Allmendinger and Aric Almirola.

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