So, it’s now finally official. The winner of the Carl Edwards sweepstakes is Jack “The Cat In The Hat” Roush.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”287″][/media-credit]The big announcement from Roush Fenway Racing came on Thursday morning that said they had signed a new contract with Edwards. This new agreement was simply described as “a new multi year agreement that begins in 2012.” No official terms of the contract were released and that’s the way it should be. However there was speculation that the agreement was for a period of three to four years which was described as being typical of a Roush Fenway agreement with their drivers.

If this entire process had to be described with just one word, speculation would be a great choice. There was plenty of it especially when we realized that Edwards’ next step in his career had become a bidding war between Roush Fenway Racing, (RFR) and Joe Gibbs Racing, (JGR).

The NASCAR silly season, the annual period of time when speculation runs wild regarding potential driver changes, started early this year because of Edwards. He absolutely topped the list of silly season candidates. That’s only natural. On the track Edwards is one of the best in the business. He currently has a better than great chance of winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship and halt that five year title streak held by Jimmie Johnson. Off the track he has a huge fan base and that translates into some impressive revenue from the sale of souvenir merchandise. When it comes to promoting his sponsors he considered to be a public relations gold mine. He makes the multi detailed process of participating in sponsor advertising campaigns look incredibly easy. There’s not a team in the entire NASCAR garage that wouldn’t want this driver’s services.

The fires of speculation got super hot in the late spring when it was revealed that JGR was “courting” Edwards in an attempt to sign him. That speculation said he would be taking over the JGR #20 Home Depot Toyota beginning next year. There was also speculation that said JGR had offered Edwards an $8 million salary base plus a $10 million signing bonus. Do the math. That’s $18 million in the driver’s pocket for the 2012 racing season.

Seemingly alarmed that there may an element of truth to the JGR offer, the Ford Motor Company stepped into the Edwards contract negotiation. On July 31st there was some confirmation from Kevin Kennedy, Director of Ford Racing Communication, that said Ford had taken “unprecedented measures to keep Carl Edwards at Roush Fenway Racing adding “we’ve helped out with an offer we have never done before for another driver. We’ve been in racing for 110 years and I don’t think we’ve ever done this before.” Kennedy, as expected, offered no details regarding what the offer exactly was but did say that they considered Carl Edwards to be “the face of Ford Racing” and wanted him to remain at RFR.

Meanwhile, back at the JGR headquarters, there was speculation that said Home Depot was more than one hundred percent behind any and all efforts to get Edwards in the seat of their race car. That speculation also said that Home Depot was more than tired of taking a NASCAR back seat to their largest competitor Lowes Home Improvement Centers the sponsor of Jimmie Johnson’s five consecutive Sprint Cup championships. It seems that Home Depot was especially tired of being referred to as: “that OTHER home improvement center of NASCAR”. One even has to think that Home Depot officials winced a little as they watched Paul Menard win his first ever Cup race in a car sponsored by Menard’s Home Improvement Stores, one of their larger regional competitors.

Eventually the bony finger of speculation pointed at Joey Logano, the current driver of the JGR-Home Depot #20 Toyota. From the very beginning of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career, the media dubbed him “the best thing since sliced bread.” But in recent weeks there was some mean spirited speculation that claimed “the bread” may have developed some mold and Logano’s days with JGR might be numbered. All during this time Logano, and crew chief Greg Zipadelli, continually stated that no one had said a word to them regarding a change in their status for next year. That was quickly reinforced by J D Gibbs, JGR President, who said Logano would remain an integral part of their new four team operation if indeed they did sign Edwards.

But the speculation theorists reminded us that a fourth JGR team would require signing a major sponsor. At the end of July came a rumor that stated Napa Auto Parts was going to terminate their long term association with Michael Waltrip Racing and were going to spend their “Napa Know How” money with JGR as the sponsor of their fourth team driven by Logano. That speculation was quickly quashed by a spokesman from Waltrip Racing who reminded us that their contract with the auto parts chain was through the 2012 season and Napa was fully committed to honoring the deal.

In the final days of July, heading into early August, the speculation really became amped up. There was a rumor that said Edwards had actually been seen in a bright orange racing shirt participating in a publicity photo shoot inside of an undisclosed Home Depot store.

There was also speculation that said Edwards planned to announce his future plans in September during the NASCAR weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. That’s when the speculation theorists went into overdrive. They quickly pointed out that the Edwards announcement would be made at this time because the official corporate headquarters of Home Depot is located in -you guessed it-Atlanta-Georgia.

All through this maze of speculation, Carl Edwards remained tight lipped about his contract negotiations and made it crystal clear that his focus was placed on winning more races this season and capturing the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. Good for him. Contract negotiations should conducted in the private offices of a racing team and not in some public arena such as a track media center. Edwards also made it clear that the only contract he has signed was with Jack Roush three years ago.

Also very quiet through this process were officials from AFLAC Insurance, Edwards’ long time primary sponsor. Their contract with RFR also ends this year and is the next major focal point of the negotiating process. It’s widely believed that AFLAC wants to remain with Edwards and were patiently waiting for his decision. It’s also widely believed that they were prepared to move to JGR with him if that’s what he decided. Even the seemingly unflappable AFLAC Duck had nothing to say concerning Edwards’ next career move.

Now it’s all over. The decision has been made and Carl Edwards can move on to the most important piece of business of all: winning the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. But wasn’t it fun to examine all of these clues while trying to determine how this story was going to end? I know I enjoyed it. It was almost like watching an episode of “Law And Order.”

There’s one remaining piece of speculation that needs to be cleared up. That would be the rumor that said the AFLAC Duck, this past Thursday, flew over the Joe Gibbs Racing headquarters and dropped some “pellets” on their front porch. That untrue speculation was the handy work of my long time racing buddy, “Six Pack Eddie” who likes to spend the wee hours of the morning sending “Twitter” messages when he should be getting some sleep.