Carl Edwards 2010 Preview, Predictions & Odds

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Carl Edwards 2009 Stats

Carl Edwards 2009 Recap & Review

What a difference a year makes. In the first 10 races of 2008, Carl Edwards had already earned three victories to go along with six top-10 finishes. Compare that to the same stretch in the 2009 season, when he had only one top 5, four top lOs and one DNF. Who knew that his most memorable highlight wouldn’t come from a back flip in Victory Lane, but a wild flip into the catch fence Attila combined with his very own “Ricky Bobby” moment of running across the finish line on foot?

Unfortunately, that harrowing wreck started a three-race skid with finishes of 24th, 26th and 32nd, a slump that could have left lesser teams down for the count. But Edwards and company rebounded strong, with a fourth-place run in the Coca-Cola 600 followed by a seventh at Dover, second at Pocono (his best finish of ’09) and a fourth at. Michigan to jump back up the points ladder. Running up a total of 13 straight finishes inside the top 20, he was fourth in the standings by midsummer. Once the Chase field was set, though, the lack of wins came back to haunt the team as it was shuffled back to ninth.

As the playoffs began, most felt the preseason title favorite would surprise with a little extra gas in his tank; but as we all found out, the No. 99 and Edwards were already running on empty. Only one year removed from winning three of the final four races, the team didn’t even score a top-5 finish over the final 10 races as Edwards never rose higher than eighth in points.

Only three top-10 finishes, combined with two DNFs (Charlotte and Texas), left him 11th at season’s end, 534 points behind Jimmie Johnson after coming 70 short of a title in 2008.

Carl Edwards 2010 Preview & Prediction

When your name is linked in the record books with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson, that’s normally something to be proud of, but for Carl Edwards, it’s a lowly distinction that puts him next to these two NASCAR greats. In 1965, Jarrett and Johnson scored 13 wins apiece, but then failed to win a race the following year (due to retirement). In 2008, Edwards came painfully close to a championship thanks to his nine wins, and he was a favorite to dethrone Jimmie Johnson last season — only to get shut out of Victory Lane en route to an 11th-place points finish.

So instead of sitting at the main table of the NASCAR banquet like many thought he might, Edwards came up 10 points shy of even making the stage in Las Vegas and was forced to give an abbreviated banquet speech following a seventh-place run at Homestead to end last season.

A quick look at the stats shows just how bad things got for Ford’s top talent. After leading a career-high 1,282 laps in 2008, Edwards led 164 in 2009 — only seven over the final 22 races of the season. Track position posed a major problem; even when his No. 99 car was competitive, poor strategy combined with bad pit stops left him mired in traffic and unable to work his way to the front. Those issues led to internal shuffling within the crew, and more changes are expected this offseason as Roush plans a massive overhaul of his program for 2010.

But rest assured — no matter how many pink slips Roush gave out in December, Bob Osborne remained on top of the pit box. The driver and crew chief still have faith in each other, attributing their lack of raw speed last season to the cyclical nature of the sport more than anything else. Keeping their cool and maintaining Edwards’ optimism is the key for them to rebound and regain the swagger they had in ’08. Sponsorship from Aflac remains one of the best deals in the business, and internal support from Ford and team owner Jack Roush couldn’t be stronger.

Edwards will also be back to 100 percent physically come Daytona, his broken foot healed after a freak Frisbee accident in September left him hobbling on crutches for several weeks. But in his personal life, the demands of fatherhood will pose a challenge, with a new baby girl due very shortly. A physical fitness nut, he’ll have to balance family with the grind of running full-time schedules in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.

So can Edwards snap out of the rut? Garage chatter says yes, as some promising tests behind the scenes have the team quietly buzzing about 2010. It’s certainly a bigger hole to dig out of than most people think. But even after the worst season of his full-time Cup career, it will take only a small bump in overall speed to get Edwards back in the top 5 in points by season’s end.

Carl Edwards 2010 Predictions

We predict that Carl Edwards will finish 4th in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Carl Edwards Betting & Odds

Carl Edwards NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship Odds: +1200

Carl Edwards Betting Trends & Situations

• after finishing 11th to 15th, average finish is 15.4
• when racing in February, average finish is 16.5

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