Carl Edwards Breaks Nearly Two-Year Winless Streak at the Subway Fresh Fit 500

Carl Edwards had the nightmare of his life during Speedweeks leading up to the Daytona 500. He wrecked four race cars before finally finishing off the fifth car in the Daytona 500.

An extremely dejected Carl Edwards said in the garage that they would go to Phoenix and win the race. No one really considered Edwards a favorite to win this weekend. He wasn’t terrifically quick during practice like the No. 55 of Mark Martin and the No.18 of Kyle Busch, but he had a decent place in the top-10. Edwards dominated the final portion of this race, leading the final 78 laps and leading a total of 122 of the 312 laps.

Mark Martin and Kyle Busch came in as the heavy favorites, but both ran into trouble. On Lap 48, Kyle Busch attempted to pass Kevin Harvick on the high side, but got loose and spun out, tagging the outside wall. Busch then received a penalty for pitting too soon and the No.18 ended up in the 23rd position. Martin led 75 laps early, but had to pit on Lap 68 for a loose wheel. A caution would come out soon after to put the No.55 back on the lead lap, but he never came back to the front and couldn’t get as high as 21st.

The biggest story other than the exciting finish was Goodyear tires. The first instance of a problem that came up was when Kevin Harvick cut a tire and hit the wall during the Nationwide event yesterday. Ryan Newman was the crash dummy today as he had two separate incidents for melted beads. Newman blew two-right front tires, both sustaining damage, but the second accident left Newman fuming. Newman exited the car and ran across the track in front of traffic and tried to jump over the pit wall in one jump, but nearly fell and had to regain his posture. Newman went to the infield care center and left through the rear entrance to avoid the media. Later, it was reported that Newman would do an interview, but that never came to light.

And it was a rough weekend for Danica Patrick. She struggled with the balance of her race car for a majority of the weekend, but she was running on the lead lap in 26th before blowing her right-front tire exiting turn four on Lap 184. She hit the wall head-on and then bounced back into the No.34 of David Ragan who shredded Patrick’s car.

It was the first win of the year for Edwards. The last time he won at Phoenix, he would go on to nearly win the championship. Could Edwards be considered a threat now? Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin traded paint for second with Johnson coming out on top, with Hamlin falling short in third spot.

Defending series champion Brad Keselowski would finish in fourth and rounding out the Top 10 would be Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Jeff Burton.

Jimmie Johnson started off the 2006 season with the Daytona 500 victory and a second place finish at Auto Club Speedway the following weekend. He has done exactly that this year. When asked if he considered himself a favorite, he said, “Well I didn’t about know that stat, but I would like to keep that up and five straight championships again will be nice, but we will take it one week at a time.”

When I asked Carl Edwards, “We have seen you have great years and then droughts here and there, is Jimmy Fennig the solution?” Carl then asked Jimmy, “How many more years are you going to do this, Jimmy? I didn’t think he wanted to work with me this year.” Jimmy sat and laughed. “I hope the floodgates open and we can go out and do some good.”

Carl later approached me and apologized if I thought he was picking on me, but I didn’t take it that way at all. And after that conversation, I have a whole new respect for Carl Edwards and he has earned himself a fan. Las Vegas is next week and I cannot wait!