Carl Edwards Will Race for the Championship!

Due to Carl's victory at Texas last weekend, the intense pressure of the Chase took a one-week Phoenix holiday.  Thank goodness, because the car did not unload with much speed.  Between the three practices plus the three rounds of qualifying, his times ranged between 10th and 20th.  The better times were recorded during qualifying, allowing the #19 Stanley Camry to move on through all three rounds and secure an 11th place starting spot.

The race started off with a bang even before the first lap was complete, with a couple of cars making contact and sending one of them spinning.  Once the race resumed, Carl fell back as far as 15th due to a tight racecar.  The race ran caution free for a while, resulting in green-flag pit stops.  Dave Rogers called Carl in on lap 81 for four fresh tires and fuel.

But before everyone completed their green-flag pit stops, the caution was brought out by two cars having trouble getting onto pit road.  That put Carl a lap down, but he was able to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap.  He restarted 14th, but at the back of the field.  A poor restart sent him back to 19th.

In spite of a vibration, he was able to move up 2 spots over the next 35 laps.  When the yellow flag for debris came out on lap 131, he pitted for four tires and fuel.  The adjustments must have helped some, because over the next 75 laps he moved up as far as 9th place.  Lap 210 brought another debris caution, another pit stop for four tires and fuel, and a restart from the 9th position.

Echoing the pattern of the day, the next caution came during the restart lap.  This time the pit stop was only for a top-off of fuel, and Carl restarted 11th.  This caution was again followed by Carl losing positions, falling back to 14th over the next five laps.

A couple of cars got into the wall on lap 255.  This trip down pit road got Carl four tires, fuel, and 3 positions, restarting in 11th.  But back out on the track, he continued to slide backwards through the field, falling back to 15th over the next ten laps.  He was in 14th when a car got into the wall on lap 310.

When the race resumed, Carl was back inside the top ten in 8th place.  Another accident on the restart lap, and for the next restart he was in 6th place.  It was looking like a combination of adjustments to his car and attrition among his competitors might be giving him a chance at a top five finish or even a miraculous win.  But over the remaining two laps, he fell all the way back to 19th place.

Thank goodness he got the victory last weekend at Texas, because his Phoenix race was not one of his best.  Perhaps they were not putting a ton of effort into this race as they turned their focus toward Homestead, perhaps they simply missed the setup, perhaps he was simply staying out of the way of his teammates to avoid interfering with their efforts.  But whatever the situation was, it did not matter in the grand scheme of things.

With only one race left in the season, Carl is one of the four drivers eligible to race for the championship title.  This is the first time he has accomplished this within this version of the Chase.  He sits 3rd on the Chase grid.  Before the drivers' standings were reset, he was in 7th, 47 points behind the leader.  (See, he would not have advanced without that Texas victory.)  After the points were reset, putting the four remaining drivers into a tie, the tie breaker has him in 3rd.  That is where he would start, just in case rain washes out qualifying in Homestead.

This has been a tremendous season.  All along, Carl has said that he just wanted to get to Homestead with a shot at the title.  Well, now he has his shot.  And he practiced his aim last weekend.  He took aim as his competitors and drove into victory lane.  Then in the winner's circle he took aim with a pair of pistols and fired them into the air.  He is poised to be competitive next weekend.  Let's go to Miami!