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Forget the points, Edwards races to win
By admin | September 28, 2008
By Richard Allen
Carl Edwards often laments finishing second. Much like the old school drivers of another NASCAR era, Edwards values winning over “a good points day”. On Sunday in Kansas, he showed just how true that is.
Over the last two laps of the Camping World 400 Edwards erased a near one second deficit to Jimmie Johnson and as they raced the final 1.5 miles of the event the two cars were nose to tail.
Going into the 3rd turn for the final time Edwards made a bold move to the inside. He drove his #99 Ford in deeper than was seemingly possible.
“I knew I was gonna hit the wall,” Edwards said in a post race interview. “I just didn’t plan on the wall slowing me down that much.” That statement is one most long time fans would attribute to Allison, Baker or Yarborough rather than a modern day driver.
Edwards entered into the Kansas race with a 10 point lead over Johnson in the standings. Simply following his closest rival around the track and accepting the second place finish would have been the safe thing to do. His position in the overall standings would not be hurt too badly and he could move on to the next race. Apparently, that is not in Edwards’ make up.
There were 17 cars on the lead lap at the time of the white flag. Had he hit the wall harder or had he lost control and spun he could have lost as many as 58 points. Edwards considered a chance to win a Sprint Cup Series race worth the risk.
That was a refreshing thing to see from a modern day NASCAR competitor.
Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association. His weekly column appears in The Mountain Press every Wednesday.
Topics: Articles |
September 29th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Edwards is one of the few drivers who could have raced in the earlier eras of NASCAR, imo.
September 29th, 2008 at 7:14 am
That was a great race! And and giving it a ‘Hail Mary’ for the win was exciting! This is what Nascar needs more of!
Forget the Chase, and lets race!
One other thing!
Nascar once again shows inconsistency with “Debris Cautions”!
With aprox 10 laps to go, and blowed tire on Waltrips car, which blowed in the middle of the track after a replay, it looked like a ’shovel full” of medal, body parts etc on the straightway! No Debris Caution was throwed!
I have seen them throw it with hardly any debris before!
If safety is what it is about, lets be consistent!