Despite
being winless and 12th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points, Carl
Edwards is not about to give up hope of making the 2012 Chase for the Sprint
Cup. With five races remaining in NASCAR’s regular season, Edwards says he is
as determined as ever to win races and earn a shot at the championship.
“We
are going to every race with one purpose and that is to win,” Edwards said. “We
watched last weekend. I got a front-row seat to watch Jeff Gordon pull it off
and do what needed to be done and that’s a motivator right there, to know that
we can do this, it can be done, we just have to go out and race these next five
races like they’re the most important races in the world – each one of them. I
think we made a step towards that last weekend with a fast race car and being a
little more aggressive. That last restart, it was frustrating we weren’t able
to get up there like Jeff did. Hopefully, we can just go out here and have some
fun and win a race or two. It would be a huge comeback for us and it would mean
a lot.”
Edwards
has won seven times at three of the five remaining venues before the Chase. He
has Sprint Cup Series wins at Michigan (two), Bristol (two) and Atlanta
(three). While he has not won at Richmond International Raceway, he has led 442
career laps there, including 206 in May. This weekend at Watkins Glen could be
Edwards’ biggest challenge leading up to the Chase, since it is only one of two
tracks where he has never led a lap.
“Watkins
Glen is a really fun race track,” Edwards said. “The first time I went there I
backed the car into the fence before I completed a lap in practice, so I’ve
come a long way as a driver. I feel good on these road courses and I enjoy
them, and I know a lot of the fans like them as well. We’ve sat on the pole
there, but never won a race there but we’ve run up front and challenged for the
win a number of times.”
Edwards
will get some extra seat time at the road course by competing in the Nationwide
Series race on Saturday in the No. 60 Subway Ford Mustang before hitting the
track on Sunday in his No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion.
How about the sudden resurgence of Jeff Gordon? He's had really good cars all year but has just been snake bit with bad luck all season. 3 weeks ago everyone said that there was no way Jeff Gordon was going to make the chase, and here we are now 5 races to the chase and he holds the final wild card spot along with teammate Kasey Kahne. And what a great time for him to get hot they are at Watkins Glen this week a place he has won at 4 times he has a good driver rating at Michigan where they are next week 5 wins at Bristol after that, he's won 5 times at Atlanta, and he's good at Richmond. Not only are Jeff's chase hopes alive and well, but I would not count him out as a contender for his 5th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. And as a person who loved to hate Jeff Gordon during the Earnhardt/Gordon rivalry of the 90's (although Dale and Jeff was very good friends and Jeff say's he's the driver he is because of what Dale took the time to teach him, it was more of a fan rivalry) I can truly say as a sentimental favorite as his career is winding down it would be nice to see Jeff win one more.
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