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Edwards hopes to bank on past Texas success

Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Action Sports Photography

The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season hasn't been a Carl Edwards-type season. The driver of the No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford came close to the Sprint Cup championship last season, finishing in a points tie with eventual champion Tony Stewart and seeing the title trophy slip from his hands because Stewart made more trips to victory lane.

Edwards posted only one win last season, but that is one more win than he has to his credit so far this year with only three races remaining on the 2012 Sprint Cup Series schedule. Edwards also finds himself on the outside looking in this time around after failing to make the 12-man Chase for the NASCAR print Cup.

I’m excited to go there since I think we’ve got as good a shot at winning there as we’ve had all season.

Carl Edwards

Edwards is hoping to turn things around as the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for Sunday's AAA Texas 500. Seven races into the Chase, no non-Chaser has visited victory lane so far in the postseason, but Edwards has a shot to change that.

"I’m excited to go there since I think we’ve got as good a shot at winning there as we’ve had all season," Edwards said. "We want to finish this season strong just like we did in 2010 leading up to our 2011 championship run, and to do that we need to get a couple of wins."

The driver of the No. 99 is the Sprint Cup Series wins leader at TMS with three trips to victory lane. Add to that his two victories at the track in Nationwide Series competition and statistics show that Edwards is a force to be reckoned with when the circuit heads to the Lone Star State.

The circuit has already visited Texas once this season and something that may be on Edwards' side this time around is the fact that one of his RFR teammates was victorious at TMS earlier this year.

“Carl has three wins at Texas already and we’d sure like to get him the fourth one this weekend," crew chief Chad Norris said. "(Greg) Biffle won there in the spring while we got a top-10 finish so we know the RFR Fords are strong at Texas."

Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing Ford
Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

Edwards' shot at the 2012 Sprint Cup was already shot when he failed to make the Chase. The best that he can hope for this year is to finish 13th in the final standings. But he's not even there. Edwards heads into Texas 14th in points, 69 points behind 13th place Kyle Busch driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Edwards isn't likely to make up that deficit in the final three races, but he does have another driver breathing down his neck for his 14th spot -- Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Newman is in 15th, just one point behind Edwards. The slightest slip by Edwards in the final stretch that includes Sunday's race at Texas may send Edwards even farther into the basement.

The seven Chase races, so far, have been dominated by Chase drivers. Edwards is hoping to have something to say about that on Sunday.

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