Tulsa World: Edwards struggling

TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | WIRELESS

OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL

HOMEPAGES

SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

		Sports Editor Mike Strain
		Sports Columnist Dave Sittler
		The Picker Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

Search the World's archives

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US

BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or order online.

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Learn more about the site.

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

Edwards struggling
Missouri native is winless after winning nine races last season.

Greg Biffle (right) talks with Carl Edwards during practice last month. Edwards is still winless this year after earning nine wins during the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Mike McCarn / AP

By STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press
Published: 11/8/2009 2:30 AM
Last Modified: 11/8/2009 7:48 AM

FORT WORTH, Texas — Carl Edwards has found a way to try to mask the frustration of his winless NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

"I've kind of tried to think of it differently," Edwards said. "It's not that we haven't had no wins this season, it's just that we've had nine wins over the last two. That sounds a lot better."

That still doesn't erase that very noticeable zero in 2009.

After winning a series-high nine races last season — "That was an amazing year," Edwards said, almost smiling at the memory — he was considered by many as the preseason favorite this year to unseat three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson.

Instead, Johnson heads into Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway, the eighth in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, closing in on unprecedented fourth consecutive championship.

Edwards would just like to win a race and try to build some momentum for next season.

"Everybody was so pumped and voted us to win the championship and everybody was on board, but I knew in the back of my mind that things can go great or they can go bad and no amount of speculation can affect that," Edwards said. "Yeah, it's frustrating. But I know how cruel this sport can be."

And how good.

When Edwards got to the 1 1/2-mile, high-banked track last November, he already had seven wins. He made it eight when he drove his No. 99 Ford to Victory Lane by a comfortable margin after gambling on fuel to complete the first two-race season sweep in Texas

— and become the first three-time winner there. He won again in the finale two weeks later at Homestead to finish 69 points behind Johnson.

Without a wreck at Talladega and an ignition problem at Charlotte in consecutive Chase races, for finishes of 29th and 33rd, Edwards probably would have been able to end Johnson's title streak last year.

The luck has been no better this year, even though the Roush Fenway team got started with Matt Kenseth being the first driver in 12 years to win the first two races of a season and Edwards made the Chase again.

"We were at the top of our game last year and didn't manage to make the improvements and didn't manage to find the next new thing that we needed this year and that left us with a disappointing year," owner Jack Roush said. "It's just a cycle of things. ... Hopefully next year we'll be back on top."

After Kenseth's two victories, Roush didn't win again until Jamie McMurray won at Talladega last weekend.

Only Johnson (13) and Kyle Busch (12) have more than Edwards' nine victories over the past two seasons.

SPRING CUP STANDINGS

1. Jimmie Johnson —
2. Mark Martin -184
3. Jeff Gordon -192
4. Juan Pablo Montoya -239
5. Tony Stewart -279
6. Kurt Busch -312
7. Greg Biffle -340
8. Ryan Newman -402
9. Kasey Kahne -414
10. Carl Edwards -437
11. Denny Hamlin -448
12. Brian Vickers -551

By STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

COMMENTS

Add your comment

Show: Most Recent Comment First

0 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.