Jack Roush made a revelation Sunday night in Phoenix about the struggles Carl Edwards endured in 2012. In a way, blaming himself for Edwards going through one of the worst seasons in his career.
The team had just won their first race in almost two years, snapping a 70-race winless streak for Edwards. And it came off of a year in which Edwards missed the Chase and went through two different crew chiefs. The one in which he won with on Sunday was his third, veteran Jimmy Fennig.
“It’s great to be here with Carl. We were holding Carl back last year without meaning to just because we didn’t have the right chemistry around him,” said Roush. “But Jimmy Fennig, when we asked Jimmy if he would take Carl and take me for another year and do this thing, he had his requirements, he wanted to change a few things, he didn’t want to see as much of me as I’d shown Bob [Osborne] … But Jimmy is well studied. He works as hard behind the scenes.”
Whatever Fennig wants, he’ll have no problem asking and getting it now. The move away from the No. 17 team – which he led to three wins last season with Matt Kenseth before he departed for Joe Gibbs Racing – to the No. 99 with Edwards has already proven to be the chemistry Roush was searching for. After coming off a Speedweeks in which Edwards wrecked five cars he was perfect at Phoenix, leading the most laps and winning the race.
Edwards, who not only got to perform his celebratory and head into the grandstands, was as jubilant as anyone has seen him in recent memory. He even walked into the media center for his winner’s obligations and shouted, “We won the damn race. How about that?”
His excitement continued through his press conference, in which Edwards acknowledged how much Fennig has already played a big factor in the turnaround to his team. His attitude and outlook on the race and season have changed as well.
“I’ve felt more confident, like a victory is closer, since the first meeting I had with Jimmy at the shop to see the attention to detail he has on the car and to see the intensity in the guys’ eyes,” said Edwards.
“But yesterday after the final practice my trainer came with me from CTS, Dean, and we were talking after practice like man, I’m in a really good mood, like I feel good and I realized it was because I felt that speed in the racecar and the thing drove like I wanted it to, and that’s a really good feeling.
“So I was more optimistic than I have been for a long time this morning getting ready to race.”
The longtime combination of Edward and Osborne won 18 races together and nearly a championship, the most recent just two years ago. They actually tied in points, but lost to Tony Stewart because of wins. Last season Osborne stepped away because of health reasons and Edwards worked with Chad Norris until the season ended when Roush moved Fennig.
While Osborne isn’t working atop the 99 pit box, he’s still apart of the company and the team. He’s doing a lot of engineering on the new Gen6 cars and is involved in all of the meetings at the racetrack. Sunday was as much a win for him as it was for Edwards and Fennig, who wasn’t about to take all the credit.
“Well, I don’t think I’m the missing link. Me, I go about my work a little different than some people do,” he said. “I’m a hard worker. We sit there and we pay attention to detail on our racecars and that’s about it.
“I do the same thing I did with Matt [Kenseth], with Mark Martin in ’98. That’s the way I work. We still have 85 percent of the team left from the 17. That’s still there and everybody knows the way I operate, what I want, and we’re just trying to deliver it to Carl.”
The site of Edwards last win was Las Vegas, where the series heads next. No surprise, he’s already looking forward to heading to Sin City, mostly because he doesn’t have to answer the question of when he’s going to win again. Further, he heads there with a new found confidence and belief that even after just one win, two races into the season, that as he competitors feel, he’s back.
“A lot of people that we have in sports and definitely Jack and Jimmy understand this, but when you’re struggling it seems like time slows down, you’re working harder, you’re trying more, you question yourself more,” revealed Edwards.
“Kyle Petty earlier, we were being interviewed, he’s like ‘Where were you last year?’ I was there. That’s one of the longest years in my life to work that hard and not get the victory. I’m very, very happy to be back in the mix. A victory is huge and for so many reasons. Last year we didn’t make the Chase. for me to sit home while everybody was at the Chase stuff and at Vegas, that was a little bit of a shock to me. I did not like that at all.
“To get a victory helps us be in a better position for the Chase. it just feels good to win and I’m just very glad to be here. So yeah, I hope Denny [Hamlin, who finished third] is right. I hope we’re relevant or more than relevant all year.
“I hope we dominate this thing.”
