Lame-duck champion? Edwards says Roush Fenway focused on title
Carl Edwards enters the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup in the rare but not unprecedented predicament of being a lame-duck driver.
Edwards, who recently announced plans to join Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015, is well-aware that his final 10 races at Roush Fenway Racing have the potential to be a bit uncomfortable for everyone involved.
Such is the nature of the beast in the ultra-competitive world of Sprint Cup Series racing, where teams are often reluctant to share information with drivers who could pass that information along to a rival team in the future.
But with the Chase starting Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, and Edwards one of 16 drivers in the hunt for a title, the driver of the No. 99 Ford does not sense any tension surrounding his impending move.
The fact that he and veteran crew chief Jimmy Fennig are both in the final year of their respective roles is actually serving as extra motivation to go out on top.
"I've been amazed at Roush Fenway's professionalism throughout this whole process," Edwards said. "I mean, nothing's really changed. Jack's (Roush, RFR co-owner) and my relationship is good, (RFR president) Steve Newmark and I are great, (RFR general manager) Robby Reiser is still on our truck every week talking about how to make the cars faster, the (team) meetings haven't changed. There's been no change, really.
"I think the thing that helps our situation is Jimmy Fennig announcing before this Chase started that this will be his last shot at this as a crew chief. So I think that kind of puts us all in the same boat, so to speak, where we know when Homestead's over, that's it, this chapter will be closed. And in a way it's kind of neat to see everybody rally around and want to go do this when it's our last shot at it."
Kevin Harvick can relate to Edwards' situation like few others, having spent the entire 2013 season at Richard Childress Racing knowing he would be leaving for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.
Interestingly, Harvick's experience as a lame-duck driver -- particularly in the Chase -- hasn't been like Edwards' experience, at least so far.
"As you get to the end, the less they want you to be involved in what's going on at the organization and what they're trying to fix and change, and you pretty much just show up and drive the car and do the best that you can to be able to put your best foot forward and do the best things you can to try to get the performance out of the car," Harvick said.
But like Edwards at Roush Fenway, Harvick felt pressure to wrap up his time at RCR on a positive note.
"In the end, that light at the end of the tunnel is so big and you know that everything you've signed up for in the future is right in front of you, and you don't want to leave a bad impression and let your team down that you currently have, so in the end it motivates both situations in my opinion," Harvick said.
"In the end, as a driver you're going to go out and drive the car as fast as you can and hope for the best result that you can, because in the end it's still your reputation on the line, and that's all you have to live on."
To win a championship in his final Chase with RFR, Edwards acknowledges his team must improve on its performance from the regular season -- when his No. 99 Fords consistently underperformed at mile-and-a-half and 2-mile tracks that dominate much of the schedule.
Of the 10 tracks in the Chase, five are mile-and-a-halves, so if Edwards is going to have any shot at the title, the No. 99 team is going to need to unearth some speed in a hurry.
"The only thing that makes me think that we could find it is that we don't exactly know what we're missing, so definitely with all the efforts that are being put forth, there are a bunch of variables we're changing. We're trying a bunch of things," Edwards said. "If we find something, everybody's ready from a manufacturing side to make sure that we can implement it for the rest of the Chase, so, I mean, we've got our fingers crossed and everybody's working 24 hours a day for it."
It has been a strange season for Edwards, who not all that long ago was a force at the mile-and-a-half tracks. Edwards' two wins this year have come at Bristol (a short track) and Sonoma (a road course).
"You just don't know," Edwards said. "Let me put it this way: If you'd have said, 'Hey, you're going to finish fifth in Atlanta and 22nd at Richmond,' three weeks ago, I'd have said, 'Nah, that's crazy,'" Edwards said of his two most recent results. "All the way up until about 50 laps into the Richmond race, I thought I had a car that could win. It could go the other way, too. It's like we're just on a knife-edge right now, and you either hit it or you don't."
VIDEO: Carl Edwards Chase Media Day interview
