A Sprint Cup championship is probably too tall an order for Carl Edwards, who sits 76 points off the lead in the Chase with three races to go. But the Roush Fenway Racing driver can certainly establish himself as a contender for 2014 in the remaining events.
Edwards, who starts from the pole for tomorrow’s AAA Texas 500, has the most wins at Texas Motor Speedway among active Sprint Cup drivers with three (2005, sweep in 2008). Next up after Texas is Phoenix, where he snapped a 70-race winless streak back in March. Then comes the season-finale on Nov. 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where Roush Fenway squads have triumphed seven times.
As Edwards himself stated after winning the pole on Friday, he couldn’t have picked a better set of tracks to finish the year on. And that makes him confident that he and his No. 99 crew can get a proper headstart on next season.
“There is nothing we are not bringing to the race track equipment-wise and effort-wise, and we are coming to win,” Edwards said. “For us, it is really about gearing up for next season…There are a lot of things changing but overall it would help to keep the guys motivated and everyone looking forward. Wins would be great.”
“I love racing here [at Texas] and we ran really well at Phoenix, and Homestead, for some reason, perfectly suits me and the way our cars work and the engine. We should be really good. At the very least, we will have a good time and have some fun which is something that is easy to forget. That is a big part of it.”
Edwards was hoping for bigger things from his 2013 Chase after winning the last “regular season” race at Richmond back in September. But after starting out with decent results in his first two post-season events, a 35th-place finish (broken wheel hub) in Chase Race No. 3 at Dover effectively ended his bid for a title.
However, Edwards noted that the Chase has still been productive for Roush Fenway as a whole, as the group has realized the need to step it up against its competition.
“We recognize that we need to be better,” he said. “I think Greg’s run at Martinsville last week was a turning point for us. The speed he had was huge.
“I believe this pole and hopefully a solid run by not just me but Ricky [Stenhouse] and Greg [Biffle] and the whole Ford RFR camp will hopefully give those guys a little bit of something to show for all their hard work because they have been really working hard in the shop. Yeah, we recognize this Chase hasn’t gone well and it spurned a lot of hard work.”