All Jacked Up

An intermediate monster

Posted by: Jason Randall

Monday, April 7, 2008 2:44 PM

Carl Edwards' win at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday sent a crystal clear message to the rest of the teams in NASCAR. He's a real championship contender.

Edwards proved that the missing oil lid at Las Vegas had nothing to do with his win there and if it wasn't for transmission problems at Atlanta, we'd be talking about a four-time winner in this young season.

But Edwards can't complain about only having three wins. With as many mile and a half tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule, the 99 team is primed for a run to the championship.

Once the 99 got out front in Sunday's Samsung 500, it simply drove away. Edwards built a lead of almost nine seconds. That's an eternity in racing and it just shows how far ahead his program is on the "cookie cutter" tracks.

All the pieces are in place for the Office Depot group, even with crew chief Bob Osborne still on suspension. Of course it never hurts having Robbie Reiser lending a hand. That's a guy who won a title with Matt Kenseth and anytime he's involved, you know your team has a shot.

The end of the race Sunday was great. I actually thought Jimmie Johnson would have something for Edwards on that final restart, but as he had done the whole day, Carl left him in his dust.

I'm not too crazy about this "overdrive" scenario, the green-white-checkered overtime period that takes place if there's a late caution. If the cars are still running under caution, they probably should end the race as is. I realize it's what fans want, but when teams are banking on only so much fuel they can get robbed after dominating the whole day.

If we're going to have OT, then NASCAR should let teams come in and top off the fuel ... no new tires, and come out in the same order they entered.

Or, just red flag the race.

Maybe I'm way off here, but it seems like teams could get a dominant day ripped out from under them solely for the entertainment of the fans, though isn't that what sports is all about?

Until next time, keep hittin' your marks!

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