In all sports sometimes an individual has to take a risky call or do something unexpected. The same is true of the fans supporting their winning pick, after they decide which casinos should you play at for which event. That commitment to risk and reward is what makes winners, and that was what Carl Edwards in his crew did to win the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. Edwards had literally stretched his gas mileage to take a commanding lead within the last 20 laps to go to earn the checkered flag. This was the first time that Edwards had won this season and he was excited about the win, despite having one of the slower cars in the race.”It’s so cool to get this win and we’ve had such bad luck,” said Edwards. “We were the slowest of the (JGR cars) tonight, but we had (crew chief) Darian (Grubb) on the box. He made the right call, he put us in a position to win, and it worked. This is truly a gift. I took advantage of the opportunity and it has paid off.”
Edwards was not the only driver to gamble with the gas mileage, the top five drivers had the same theory that Edwards had and Edwards just beat them in the final 20 laps to maintain a victory.
“Well I mean, that’s what made the race for us,” Edwards said of the decision to pit under yellow. “Darian does such a good job and ever since Tony Stewart and I battled for that championship, I’ve wanted to work with him and now I can. That’s what he does on the box! He takes a mediocre day like this and he puts us in a good position to give us an opportunity to make something out of it.”
This season Edwards had an up and down year, until his victory Sunday he was averaging 20.5 coming into the Coca-Cola 600, which was his worst career average finish.
With the victory Sunday, Edwards has punched himself a ticket into the chase, but punching a ticket does not mean anything if he doesn’t win it all.
