Carl Edwards defends risky Kansas Speedway pass
TALLADEGA, Ala. – After five days of reflection, Carl Edwards said he has no regrets about the move he made to try and beat Jimmie Johnson at Kansas Speedway, despite hearing that some drivers thought it was too risky.
“I don’t care who feels that way and I don’t care what anybody says,” Edwards said. “I did what I thought was best and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Edwards finished second to Johnson after he tried a daring pass in the final turn of the last lap. Initially, he felt he could pass Johnson on the outside. But then, Edwards said, “I realized he’s seen that movie before.”
“He was gonna block me or do whatever he had to do,” Edwards said.
It wasn’t until the cars were going down the back straightaway that Edwards determined his only chance was to get in front of Johnson. So he drove into the corner as hard as he could and hit the wall in the process.
He initially was out in front of Johnson, but the contact with the wall slowed his momentum too dramatically, and Johnson won the race.
“Looking back on it, too, it was something I hadn’t thought of at the time, but if the caution would have come out or something while I was in front of him, we would have won the race,” Edwards said. “It just boils down to you can’t win it if you’re behind him.”
Edwards said he wished that he would have driven his car harder into Turn 4.
“The wall is a pretty simple thing,” he said. “It wasn’t like I was going in there and bouncing off Jimmie and hoping for the best. I kind of knew what I was up against there and, man, I wish we could have won it. That’s it. I just wait to have to wait another year to run that race.”
To prevent himself from agonizing over the loss, Edwards said he forced himself to move on.
“I made myself on Monday,” he said. “Standing there in the shower in the morning, the day had not started so well because that’s all I could think about. I made myself just forget about it. It’s racing. Somebody’s got to lose a good race like that.”
