Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Edwards Defines Grace Under Pressure
Carl Edwards delivered an eloquent speech Friday night...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted December 04, 2011   Charlotte, NC
For Carl Edwards, the only thing worse than losing the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship was having to get up and talk about it Friday night during the awards banquet in Las Vegas.

But that’s exactly what he did, delivering an eloquent speech that clocked in just short of 10 minutes and holding his head high, as he had done all through his fierce title battle with Tony Stewart.

“We did finish second and I dreaded this,” said Edwards. “We left Homestead and I was like, ‘Whew, man, that’s behind us, the road to recovery.’ And now this is like sitting in the dentist’s chair and going through the whole thing over again.

“But I’m telling you, I’m very, very proud of our whole team. I’m proud of the fact that we didn’t lose this championship. We fought hard. We were up against Tony at his best. We were up against adversity in a lot of different forms and my guys did a really great job and I’m really proud of that.”

Edwards clearly had good reason to be proud: His 4.9 average finish in the 10 Chase for the Sprint Cup races was the best in the eight-year history of the Chase format. In any other year, that would have given Edwards the title. As it turned out, he and Stewart ended the year with exactly the same number of points, but Stewart won the championship on the basis of his five race victories to just one for Edwards.

“We raced hard, as hard as two guys can race,” Edwards told Stewart in his speech. “It means a lot to finish second to a guy who is a champion, who rose to the occasion, had the best Chase of your career, the best Chase that anyone will probably ever have. That was just unbelievable. It meant a lot to race with you guys and that was really fun.”

Without question, the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, especially since Edwards closed the yearly strongly, finishing second in the final three races of the season. But Edwards said he had some consolation from friends and family when he returned home after the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.’

“The neatest thing was I landed my plane and the airport and a group of my friends and their kids were waiting for us, and they had built a banner,” Edwards said. “It was neat to see those folks and to know that they were proud of me and proud of what our team had done. That was really cool.”

And during his media availability on Thursday, Edwards said he’s ready to do it again.

“I think overall, the feeling of all my friends and everybody and all the people I run into — it’s like this overwhelming sense of, ‘Man, I cannot wait until next year. It’s going to be awesome.’ It was such a neat race and there was so much energy around it. Obviously, the people close to me are disappointed, but they’re excited at the same time, too.

“I’ve had people come up to me, even today, and just say, ‘Hey, that was so neat to watch.’ My friends that never understood racing, now they are starting to get it and they are interested in it.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
tom_jensen's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.