Carl Edwards can’t hold three leads in quest for first Sprint Cup win at Kansas
Carl Edwards has 22 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins to his name, but he says he would trade any one of them for a victory at the track built only two hours from his hometown of Columbia.
The wait for that day continues.
Edwards held three brief leads during Saturday night’s 5-hour Energy 400 at Kansas Speedway, but he ultimately settled for sixth place. Jeff Gordon won for the third time at the track.
“It was a strong run, but, man, I wanted to win this race so badly,” Edwards said. “So many people come out here and support me and this team. It really means the world.”
It started poorly for Edwards, who dipped more than 25 seconds behind the lead car. But things took a positive turn over the final third of the race.
Edwards took a lead with less than 30 laps remaining, though it was short-lived. After a pit stop, he fell back to the second pack and couldn’t catch the lead pace.
“Early in the race, we just got off sequence. We fell way back,” Edwards said. “But Jimmy (Fenning), my crew chief, and all the guys did a wonderful job getting us back up there. We just needed one more caution, one more restart, and maybe we would’ve had the opportunity to do a little better.”
Instead, Edwards is still searching for his first win at Kansas Speedway.
It’s not all bad news. Edwards moved up to fifth in the Sprint Cup Series standings. He already has one victory this season — the Ford City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn. in March — meaning he’s claimed his spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
A second victory in Kansas — especially in the track’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup race under the lights — would have been icing on the cake, Edwards said.
“It seemed like the crowd was really into it,” Edwards said. “Look at the weather — it’s perfect. It’s fun to come out here as a fan. I had more people tell me (they) were coming to the race for this event than I’ve had in a long time, so it’s pretty neat.
“To me, if we ran Kansas every two weeks, I’d be happy.”
No matter the track’s setting. The lights on the back stretch suddenly powered out during Saturday’s race, but Edwards said it didn’t take anything away from his experience at his favorite track.
“It’s fine. The tracks I grew up racing on were worse than that, so that’s fine with me,” Edwards said. “They don’t even ask me anymore. When it was raining, they asked me what (I thought) about the track. I always think it’s fine to race — whether it’s raining, snowing, dark whatever. It is notable though that these headlights on the cars are just decals. There’s no real headlights, so maybe we should work on that.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2014 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Carl Edwards can’t hold three leads in quest for first Sprint Cup win at Kansas."