EDWARDS NOT COMFORTABLE
Driver would like to seal Chase spot with another win
BRISTOL, TENN. It’s uncertain how many more Sprint Cup winners there’ll be this season, but none likely will tiptoe through conditions as treacherous as Carl Edwards conquered at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Sunday’s Food City 500 featured incessant peril for contenders and remained dangerous even after the checkered flag when Edwards punctuated his 22nd career victory — and likely Chase for the Sprint Cup berth — with a signature backflip. He gingerly stuck the landing on the slippery concrete, which had been soaked by the last of several rain showers that caused five hours of delays.
“Oh man, I thought, ‘This is stupid,’ ” the Roush Fenway Racing driver said. “That’s why I kind of landed on my hands. I didn’t want to (slip) and break my arm.
“I don’t have a backup celebration. I ought to work on that, huh?”
That would seem advisable if inclement weather keeps plaguing the schedule — and if the conventional wisdom of “win and you’re in” doesn’t apply to this year’s championship format as much as predicted.
Will one victory suffice for claiming a spot in the 16-driver field for the 10-race elimination playoff ? Or could there be more winners than spots available when the 26-race regular season ends and victories are used as the priority for setting the Chase field?
Edwards was mulling it after becoming the fourth winner in four races to open the season.
“At this rate, there will be 26 winners,” he joked.
That is implausible, given that only half of the weekly 43-driver field seems capable of winning in NASCAR’s premier series. History also indicates a season starting with a contrasting roster of winners doesn’t stay that course.
Last year opened with five different winners, but the total was at 13 after 26 races. In 2000, there wasn’t a repeat winner until the 11th race, but three new faces reached in the next 15 races for a total of 14 winners in 26 events.
Through 10 seasons of the Chase era, there haven’t been 16 winners through the first 26 races — the high was 15 in 2011, and the average has been 12.4.
But that doesn’t offer much comfort to Edwards, who was as ecstatic and relieved as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski after joining the provisional Chase qualifiers club.
“Everybody is assuming that you win and you’re in, and that’s definitely not the case,” said Edwards, whose team did simulation work on his No. 99 Ford until 3 a.m. ET Sunday after mediocre practices Saturday. “The first step is you have to win. ... We need to go get another win, and then we will be guaranteed to be in it.”
Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway offers the solid possibility of a repeat winner. Tracks that measure 1.5 to 2 miles in length tend to produce a consistent cluster of contenders whose cars blend mighty horsepower with sleek aerodynamics.
Keselowski (first), Earnhardt (second) and Edwards (fifth) excelled in the most recent 1.5-mile race two weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which should bode well for their chances in Fontana, Calif.
Harvick also ran well at Vegas, leading 23 laps before a wheel hub broke. He was a strong contender again at Bristol, leading 28 laps before apparently hitting de- bris and cutting an oil line that left his No. 4 Chevrolet engulfed in flames in the pits.
Edwards speculated Harvick’s team might have been pushing the envelope to develop things for the 10 last races.
“That’s a luxury you have if you’re in the Chase,” Edwards said. “It’s going to be very interesting to see how it all culminates in what everybody brings to those last 10 races, considering they have time to work on things because there’s not that pressure.”