Victory Once Again!

Once again, the #19 car unloaded with plenty of speed, claiming the 4th spot in the first practice and 5th fastest in the final practice.  A rainy Friday cancelled qualifying, so the starting grid was set by the speeds from the first practice.

Carl started the race from the 4th spot.  As the green flag dropped, he was directly behind Joey Logano, who did not get a good start.  Carl fell back a few spots, still in the top ten, though, and steadily made up positions.  By lap 64, he had moved into the lead.

Except for briefly losing the lead to Kyle Busch due to positioning coming off of a yellow-flag pit stop on lap 158, he led the race until Kevin Harvick took over on lap 231.  For most of the rest of the race, his car did not seem to have the same rocketship speed that it had showed up to that point.  But he managed to continue to run in the top 5.

Then as the laps were winding down, the cautions were picking up.  Perhaps that gave Crew Chief Dave Rogers enough opportunities to work on Carl's car, because he started moving forward again.  With less than 50 laps to go, two Gibbs cars found themselves running first and second.  Kyle Busch had the lead; Carl was stalking him.

As the laps ticked down, it seemed that Carl would not be able to catch Kyle in time.  But on the very last lap, he was right there behind him.  And in the last turn, he executed a classic bump to the back of Kyle's car.  Not enough to wreck him, just enough to get him loose.  Carl dove down on the inside and drove away to his second consecutive victory.  That was the first time in history that the Richmond race was won with a last lap pass.  My apologies to my neighbors for the shrieks of joy.

Video of Last Laps and Backflip

Once again, Carl led the most laps. Once again, Carl celebrated with a back flip.  Once again, Carl drove his Camry to Victory Lane.  Once again, Carl and his crew celebrated with confetti and champagne.  Once again, Carl put a checkered flag sticker on his race car.  Now Carl is at the top of the Chase grid, the best of the three two-win drivers.  And he is at the top of the drivers' standings, with a 7 point lead over his closest rival.  He has led more laps at Texas, Bristol, and Richmond than he did in the 2014 and 2015 seasons put together.  Ah, it is a good time to be a Carl Edwards fan!

I wish we were going to another short track next week instead of a high-risk crap shoot super speedway.

Winner, Winner, Picnic Dinner!

What an amazing Carl Edwards weekend this turned out to be!  Even before track activities got underway in Bristol, Tennessee, I was on the road, headed for Carl's hometown of Columbia, Missouri.  An assortment of his fans were going to gather for a picnic, to share good food, good company, and good conversation.  The majority of the attendees were local, but a few of us crazier types decided to drive in from such spots as Kansas, Wisconsin (me), and Mississippi.

The spread of delicious food was surpassed only by the marvelous stories that each of us shared about our favorite NASCAR drivers.  Some of the best stories came from those people who knew him the longest.  They regaled us with tales of his antics as a youngster.  And in the midst of all of this, Carl's father dropped by.  How generous of him to take time out of his day to join us!  It was a thrill to meet him and listen to his stories.

 

Meanwhile, the 19 crew was all business.  Carl's Toyota Camry was 10th fastest in the first practice.  Then, for the second week in a row, he claimed the pole position, his 18th in his Cup career.  Even after his car was switched over to race trim, it continued to show speed, posting times in the top 5 in the final two practices.

I was lucky enough to spend Sunday afternoon with another devoted Carl fan.  Comfortably nestled in Michele Alexander's Shrine to All Things Carl, we watched the race and listened to Carl, Dave, and Jason on the scanner.  Short of watching a race at the track, this was the most fun I have had during a race.  When I am at home there is a dearth of other Carl fans.  Instead this time I got to trade observations and cheer successes with someone who shared my devotion to Carl.

And what a race it was!  Carl did not just win the race, he dominated it.  After starting from the pole, he was never out of the top ten.  During most restarts, he drove away from the rest of the field.  He led the most laps, more than 50% of the race, clearly the strongest car in the field.  Only two drivers have led more laps this year (Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick).  Carl's 475 laps led in the first eight races of this season are more than he led in all 36 of last season's races combined.  And his average finish of 6.4 is currently the highest in the Cup series.

Now with a win, Carl is almost guaranteed a spot in the Chase.  On the Chase grid, he sits in the 4th spot.  In the drivers' standings he is 2nd, only one measly point behind Kevin Harvick.  Another win would put him at the top of both charts.  But we will not worry about that now.  This is the time for rejoicing in back flips and enjoying the sight of Carl holding a gladiator's sword above his head in victory lane.

The lesson in all of this is:  spend as much time as you can with other Carl fans.  You will not be disappointed.  All of the good vibes we generate sends much good luck to our favorite driver.

You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Loose Wheel

Dave Rogers brought a rocketship to Texas for Carl.  Other than ending the first practice in 21st place, the 19 car was one of the fastest cars on the track.  In the other practice, he was the second fastest car on the track.  And in between those two practices, Carl earned his first pole of the year . . . and a sexy looking rifle!

Some sprinkles, cool temperatures, and very little wind conspired to delay the start of the race for almost two hours.  But once the race got underway, that Stanley Camry looked good leading the field.  He spent the first portion of the race showing how strong his car was, leading easily much of the time.  And when he slid back it was only to 2nd or 3rd place.

Until . . . a restart when he noticed a loose wheel.  He carefully brought the car back down pit road before anything bad happened to the car to get four new tires.  But that put him a lap down.  There were quite a few other cars one lap down, and he worked diligently to pick them off one at a time.  He only had one more car to pass to get into the lucky dog position, but the caution would not wait.  He restarted in the lucky dog position, fending off the other cars one lap down to maintain that spot.   Fortunately he did not have to wait too much longer for another caution.

This time he restarted on the lead lap just outside the top 15 but at the tail end of the field behind the lapped cars.  He was working his way through those lapped cars when yet another caution came out, allowing him to get repositioned closer to the front.  With a few of the lead lap cars involved in the caution, he found himself back in the top 10.

I have to admit that at that point, with about 50 laps to go, I thought he was going to drive right up to the front and challenge for the lead.  And I would bet that he thought so, too.  But his car did not seem to have the same dominant speed he showed in the first half of the race.  He ended the night with a 7th place finish.  A bit disappointing compared to the potential shown, but not a bad result from having gone a lap down.

 

Many other drivers would have berated their pit crews for the loose wheel.  We can all name the usual suspects.  But not Carl.  He  claimed that something must have gone wrong with the equipment because his team just does not make mistakes.  That is just how the 19 team rolls.

He maintained his spots on the Chase grid (6th) and in the drivers' standings (4th).  Now on to Bristol, where Carl has won a sword before.  Do you remember this?

Dreaded Martinsville

Ah, Martinsville.  Not a track I look forward to.  Carl has traditionally struggled here, so I approach the weekend with trepidation.  Even before the week got underway, his team tweeted this quote from Carl:  "Alright, Dave Rogers & this 19 crew like a challenge.  Getting me to victory lane at Martinsville is going to be a good one!"  Rather than hoping for a win, I hoped that he would not be relegated to the back half of the pack.

But that is exactly how things got started.  Throughout the practices and qualifying sessions, he was consistently running between 20th and 25th.  Once the race got started, he fell even further backwards.  Running that far back on a short track like Martinsville, it was only a matter of time before the leaders were nipping at his heels and putting him a lap down.

He spent much of the race just trying to dig his way to the front of the cars that were one lap down so he would be sitting in the lucky dog position when a caution came out.  Finally, finally, he got into that position.  By that time he was running so well that he was passing cars that were on the lead lap.  Those cars served as barriers between him and the next car one lap down, protecting his hold on the lucky dog position.

He held that spot for a very long time, but not quite long enough.  He did get passed before the caution came out.  Thankfully he did not have to wait a very long time before another caution came out, and he circled the track to the back of the field and rejoined the lead lap cars.  Then came the drive through the field of lapped cars to run in his actual position.

During each restart late in the race, I hoped he would be on the inside lane.  Sometimes he was, sometimes he wasn't.  And when he was on the outside lane, he would lose spots just trying to find an opening and get down to the inside.

But Carl's crew, led by Dave Rogers, improved that car throughout the race.  And Carl seemed to improve his driving as he got more and more repetitions around the track.  And where was Carl when the checkered flag flew?  Did he get a top 20?  Oh, yes.  How about a top 15?  You bet he did.  Would it be too much to ask for to pull off a top 10?  Apparently not, because he snagged 6th place!  He was even knocking on the door of a top 5.  At Martinsville!  Will wonders never cease?

So instead of plummeting down the standings, he maintained his positioning quite nicely.  Kyle's win leapfrogged him over Carl on the Chase grid, so now he is positioned in the 6th spot instead of the 5th spot.  And over on the drivers' standings, he holds the 4th spot instead of the 3rd sport.  But he is still the highest pointed driver who does not yet have a win.

There are only five Cup drivers who have three or more top-5 finishes:  Kevin, Jimmie, Kyle, Denny, and our man, Carl.  That is pretty good company to be in.  The only thing they have that he does not have is a win.  I don't know about you, but Texas is a great place to rectify that situation.  Who wants to see Carl fire off those six-shooters in victory lane?