Top 35 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers: No. 11 - Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards competes for Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Scene
A year after winning a series-high nine races and finishing as runnerup to Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards entered the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup campaign touted as a championship favorite, but it wasn’t to be.
Instead, the Roush Fenway Racing driver found himself shut out of victory lane on the way to a quiet 11th-place finish in the standings.
Edwards’ No. 99 Ford lacked the speed it so often carried in 2008 and was relegated to a midpack contender on many weekends. One of the few races in which Edwards appeared headed for victory – the April event at Talladega Superspeedway – went south with victory literally only a few hundred yards away.
Battling Brad Keselowski for the lead coming into the trioval on the final lap, contact between the two drivers sent Edwards’ car out of control and onto Ryan Newman’s hood before flying airborne into the catch fence.
Edwards was uninjured and actually sprinted across the finish line on foot, but debris from his car went into the stands, and several fans had to be treated for minor injuries. The accident reignited discussion about ways to improve safety for both drivers and fans.
Edwards, whose best result of the season was a second-place finish at Pocono in June, made the Chase For The Sprint Cup and collected $6,497,136 in race earnings.
By the numbers: Edwards notched 14 top-10s, including seven top-fives, en route to finishing 11th in the standings. His average starting position was 19.7, while his average finishing position was 15.1 Edwards recorded three DNFs in 36 starts, completed 97.4 percent of all laps and led 164 laps.
Season highlights: Making the Chase was an accomplishment for Edwards, considering that he was one of only two Roush Fenway drivers to qualify for the 10-race playoff. His season was largely devoid of dominant performances, except for a second-place finish in the June Pocono race after leading 103 laps. Edwards finished a career-best third at Watkins Glen and was also third in the spring Atlanta race. The Missouri native finished second to Kyle Busch in the Nationwide Series standings after winning five races.
Key setbacks: Edwards finished no better than 24th over a three-race stretch from late April to mid-May and struggled mightily in the Chase, scoring no top-fives and just three top-10s in the final 10-race segment.
Newsworthy moments: In the aftermath of the Talladega wreck, Edwards took part in a whirlwind media tour with appearances on well-known television news programs such as “Larry King Live,” “Ellen” and “The Morning Show” to talk about the crash. Edwards broke a bone in his right foot playing Frisbee the week before the Labor Day weekend Atlanta race, forcing him to use crutches for several weeks. And Edwards, 30, announced on Oct. 15 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway that he and his wife, Kate, are expecting their first child – a baby girl – in mid-February.
In his words: “It’s very tough to make a plan for your results. I know for our performance we’re going to do everything we can this winter. I think it was a big wake-up call for me and our team that you could become uncompetitive so easily, and we’re just going to work hard. I don’t know what’s going to happen next year. I hope we get back on track.”
