NASCAR Sprint Cup: Carl Edwards Wins Again
By Stephen Lars
On this NASCAR season in which we’ve seen a strong straggle for the leadership in the position board and on the last race wasn’t any different: Carl Edwards managed to prevail in an outstanding way before the leader Jimmie Johnson. But in spite of the great effort Edwards did to win this race hasn’t been able to catch up with Johnson in the total points table, where has an advantage of 106 points.
The exciting victory by Edwards took place last weekend at the Texas 500 Miles, where used an intelligent strategy of aerodynamics, by staying on the back of several vehicles to be tug by their force and save some gas. Then Carl managed to pass over the big caravan that were trying to reach him and grabbed the lead, position that kept until the end of the competition.
This new phase of the Sprint Cup Series that began in February 2008 at Daytona and that it was previously known as the Nextel Cup Series, has shown the great skills of some pilots on the circuits, such as Edwards and Johnson, who has achieve a lot of better performances compare to the one he gave on Texas, where he couldn’t stay at the head of the group. Jim was sanctioned with a lap by NASCAR’s authorities after an irresponsible behavior on the pits stop; this made him finish in the fifteenth position.
Carl Edwards was capable of taking his car’s capacity to the maximum, being able to keep the control during most of the race, leading 199 of the 264 laps programmed. This was also posible thanks to Bob Osborne, the team’s boss, who advised Edwards that the best thing to do to win time and advantage was to make only one change to the four tires, and that’s how it was done. On the contrary, other pilots that were persecuting Carl, made two tires’ changes, which they thought will gave them an advantage to win some lead at the end of the competition.
Reaching the end of the season, with only two races ahead, Carl Edwards, has achieved 34 starts during this campaign 2008, grabbed a pole position and 8 victories, plus placed himself in the top 10 in 25 opportunities. So, to be able to overcome the points’ obstacle between him and Johnson, he must keep making an effort as he has until today. In points seems to be a long distance, but is in the speedway where the winner will be defined.
Getting a better level and winning the races is the only way in which Carl Edwards, 2007 NASCAR Busch Series Champion, could reach Jimmie Johnson in the general classification table. To rest of the season, Roush Fenway Racing keeps its faith in Edwards, who has demonstrated great results since the beginning of his career.
About the Author
Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on daily NASCAR races; sports news and the sports book industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.