Edwards’ best effort simply fell short

Edwards’ best effort simply fell short

 

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

(November 20, 2011)

 

HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Carl Edwards now knows what it’s like to do everything right and still come out on the wrong end of the battle.

 

Edwards posted the best average finish in the history of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He led with three races left and posted three straight runner-up finishes.

 

Yet, with two wins and a third in those same three events, Tony Stewart beat him, on a tiebreaker, no less, because Stewart won more races this season than Edwards did.

 

Edwards said a tie for the title was the unlikeliest of outcomes, but it happened, and he was prepared for it.

 

“We knew we could come into this thing and we knew that, of all of the circumstances that could happen, this one was the least probable,” Edwards said after Sunday’s Ford 400. “I mean, for us to finish like that, tied, fighting for the win—that is the least probable outcome.

 

“I knew that this was a possibility, though, and I was prepared for this. And I told myself—I told my family—that the one thing I’m going to do is I’m going to walk back to that motor home, win, lose or draw, and I’m going to be a good example for my kids and work hard and go be better next season.

 

“Because, you know, we talked about it before the race, even if we won this thing, you go halfway through next season and you struggle, that’s quickly forgotten. As painful as this is right now, I know that we have … we’re fortunate to have the opportunity to go to Daytona and just start all over again and go race.”

 

What driver who had just lost a championship by the thinnest margin in NASCAR history would quote Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” in his postrace news conference? Edwards did, to say in no uncertain terms that Sunday’s failure—a harsh term for the excellent performance he and his team mustered—would spur him to greater things.

 

“There’s Kipling’s poem—I can’t remember the title of it—but when he said, ‘You have to meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same,’ that’s the truth.

 

“There’s nothing saying that this loss here tonight won’t spur a chain of events that could lead to some serious success in the future, and you guys are looking at someone who is not going to miss out on that.”

 

Despite the runner-up finish in the Chase, Edwards found a lot that was positive in his performance in the Chase.

 

“I’m not going to go rip the door off my motor home or freak out or anything,” he said. “I’m going to go hang out with my family, and we’ll go to the beach tomorrow and go celebrate Ricky’s championship (fellow Roush Fenway Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the Nationwide Series title on Saturday).

 

“My true feeling right now … my gut feeling in my heart is that I’m just … I’m obviously disappointed we didn’t win. That would have been a spectacular result, OK? But I’m very proud. Some of the best races I’ve run in my life were this Chase.

 

“Kansas was unbelievable. Martinsville, I’ve never used my head as much as I did at Martinsville. I’ve never been able to put down my frustration like I did at Dover. If I look back on this Chase, there’s not one thing that I say, ‘Man, I wish I’d have done this’ or ‘I wish I’d have done that.’  This whole season has gone very well.

 

“I’m truly proud of this season—but it’s over.”