Bitten at Martinsville

While Carl Edwards has historically struggled at Martinsville, he has learned a few techniques since his move to the Gibbs stable.  His teammates have been strong here and have passed along strategies that he have helped.  While a win might be a lot to hope for, a strong run would position him nicely in the Chase standings.

An 18th place in the first practice did not look promising, but things turned around with 12th, 9th, and 7th positions in qualifying.  His strong showing allowed him to advance through all three rounds and earn a strong starting position in the top ten.  A 7th fastest time in the second practice seemed to confirm his good fortune, but a 27th in the third and final practice cast some last minute doubts leading to the race.

The doubts were erased with a strong run during the first 20 laps, as he maintained his 7th place starting position.  When a car got into the wall on lap 21, he came down pit road for four fresh tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment.  But then Carl uncharacteristically was nabbed for speeding on pit road, which sent him to the tail end of the longest line for the restart.

When the race went back green on lap 27, he was 38th.  But he steadily worked his way forward, getting back into the top 20 within 30 laps.  The race ran green for the next 55 laps, but progress was harder to come by.  It took him that long to advance just five more positions.

During the debris caution on lap 131 he got fresh tires, more fuel, and a 14th place restarting position.  Another 70 laps and another debris caution found Carl sniffing the top ten from his 11th place position.  The race resumed with just over 200 laps complete, but he found it tough to make additional progress.  Over the next 150 laps, he wavered between 9th and 13th.

He was in 9th place when disaster struck.  On lap 356 he lost the right front tire, his car bouncing off the outside wall and sliding through the grass.  The damage was more than just cosmetic; suspension damage sent him behind the wall.  In the garage his team worked frantically to get him back on the track to minimize his damage to his ranking, but when he returned to the track he was 17 laps down in 36th place.  He nursed his car around the track for the next 150-ish laps, losing a few more laps.  Unable to advance his position, he finished in 36th, 23 laps down.

His finish left him 8th and last on the Chase grid and in the drivers' standings, 32 points behind the cut-off line and 39 points behind the leader.  Chances are good that he will need to win to advance.  The good news is that he has run well at the remaining two tracks in this Chase round:  Texas and Phoenix.  Time to think about a cowboy hat and a pair of six shooters.