I’ll admit it. I didn’t necessarily pick Carl Edwards to be one of the Championship 4 drivers challenging for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series trophy at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 20.
But now that Sunday’s Texas Motor Speedway race winner is officially in the mix, he can no longer be anyone’s “sleeper pick” for the sport’s biggest trophy.
Credit to Edwards for securing one of the four title race positions when other “sure-bets” might have given that first nod to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch or this year’s Daytona 500 winner, Denny Hamlin, or even former champ Matt Kenseth.
Edwards earned this.
And his demeanor from that of very hopeful long shot to confident contender transformed in one lengthy day in Texas. He entered the race ranked last among the eight Chase contenders, a whopping 32 points out, but finished the night celebrating in Victory Lane.
From body language to just plain language, Edwards seemed to morph before our very eyes in the minutes following his win.
He was not a driver content with the opportunity to contend, but someone who absolutely feels he could — and should — be hoisting the big hardware in two weeks.
“When we made it to this round, I was very certain, I felt very confident,” said Edwards, driver of the No. 19 Toyota. “We talked about it. We felt like we could win at Martinsville. We could win Texas. We could win Phoenix.
“I know when the trouble happened at Martinsville, a lot of people probably thought, ‘That’s it for them.’ But we really did have a lot of confidence. That’s easy to say now because we won the race, but it’s the truth, we really did.
“It’s nice to be able to pull through, make that happen. Now we just got to dig in and do it again.”
Edwards is not the kind of guy for the competition to ever take lightly. And this shot at the title is significant on many levels.
He will quickly remind you that he tied Tony Stewart in the 2011 Cup championship point standings, losing out on the title to Smoke on a technicality. Stewart won the championship via tiebreaker with his five wins compared to Edwards’ one.
Last year, Edwards looked like he would earn a shot at redemption. But in the penultimate race at Phoenix, he got caught up in a bad position as the race was called for rain with 93 laps remaining. Edwards’ Toyota had been a top-five mainstay all day only to be caught 12th (after a green flag pit stop) when the race was declared over for rain. His title hopes drowned out, as well.
“One of the first things my dad told my about racing, ‘There’s a thousand ways to lose a race,'” Edwards said. “None of those thousand things can happen. You have to have everything go well.
“Those disappointments like Martinsville or Phoenix last year or 2011, that battle, that’s just part of the sport. That’s what makes victories and days like this and championships so special. You have to do everything right.”
Edwards, who has a pair of wins at Phoenix, redeemed himself already this year finishing runner-up to Kevin Harvick in a dramatic, door-slamming chase to the checkered there.
It’s what he expects this week and what he expects the following week in the championship big show at Homestead.
“I will not be relaxed,” Edwards said, allowing a smile.
“This is the part that I love,” he continued. “I mean, next week, we want to go win the race (at Phoenix). Really, starting right now, in Victory Lane, (crew chief) Dave (Rogers) was actually trying to shut me up. I started talking about Homestead already.
“Everything we do now will be geared to making sure that that Homestead weekend, we do it perfectly. So, yeah, I relish the opportunity to go focus for the next 14 days on trying to give a championship effort.”
Edwards’ track record at the 1.5-mile Miami track is worth noting.
He has a pair of victories (2008 and 2010) and finished in the top 10 for seven consecutive years from 2005 through his runner-up showing to Stewart in 2011.
And he returns there next week already smiling and feeling good about his chances.
“It’s so much fun, you guys,” Edwards said. “Just the idea of getting to race for a championship, getting that opportunity.
“It’s not just going there like we did in 2011 to race against one guy in championship form. We’re going to go there and race against three guys, one of which is a six‑time champion, top of his game. I know whoever else in there is going to be tough as nails.
“It’s cool. If we’re able to win that, stand here 14 days from now with that championship trophy, we’re going to have earned it. And that’s as good as it gets.”
