Carl Edwards comes through in must-win, punches ticket to championship final

As Carl Edwards drove his wounded No. 19 car to Martinsville Speedway’s garage following a blown tire that had sent him hard into the outside wall, he didn’t wallow that his crash would likely result in him being among the four drivers failing to advance to the championship round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup in two weeks.

No, Edwards had great confidence in what laid ahead. Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway, the other two tracks in the Chase’s semifinal round, were next and both venues he had nearly won at in the spring.

From his perspective, Edwards believed a win wasn’t just conceivable -- it was likely.

On Sunday, he proved prophetic. With the assist of an ultra-quick pit stop, Edwards was able to jump ahead of race leader Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 258, then used determined driving to maintain that lead over a sequence of restarts.

Those efforts by driver and crew alike were rewarded when rain begin falling 44 laps short of the scheduled 334-lap distance. Facing the prospect of a lengthy delay for a race that had already been pushed back nearly six hours because of rain earlier, NASCAR smartly declared the AAA Texas 500 official.

Just like that, Edwards had the win he needed to secure a spot in the championship final Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“When things go bad, sometimes it makes it really simple,” Edwards said. “As soon as we had that trouble at Martinsville, first thing we all said was, ‘We’ve got to go win Texas. That’s what we have to do.’

“We really did have a lot of confidence. That’s easy to say now because we won the race, but it’s the truth, we really did.”

Such confidence that he could produce in a virtual must-win extends beyond Texas or Phoenix, but all the way to South Florida actually. Homestead is also one of Edwards’ better tracks, and it shares many characteristics with Texas. Particularly, both are multi-groove, 1.5-mile ovals that rewards drivers’ ability to manage tires over long green-flag runs. Further accentuated by the fact Goodyear will utilize the same tire compound at Homestead as it did on Sunday.

So optimistic is Edwards over what awaits, he was already discussing preparations and strategy with crew chief Dave Rogers in Texas’ victory lane.

“All we said we needed was a shot,” Edwards said. “Now we’re going to go to Homestead and we’re going to do what we have to do.”

If this year’s title race unfolds similarly to how the previous two finales did, to claim a career-first championship Edwards will need to win Homestead outright -- not just be the highest finisher among the four title eligibles. That’s how Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch won their titles in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

It’s a daunting prospect to enter a race knowing you need a victory or else. But as Sunday demonstrated, it’s a situation Edwards embraces and seemingly thrives in.

“This is really a good test for us,” Edwards said. “We had the adversity last week. We knew what we had to do. To be able to actually go do it is great.

“Now we know we can do it. We’ve been through it. We just have to go to Homestead and do it again. Anything short of a championship will be a disappointment.”