Saturday, April 30, 2016

Carl Edwards Eyes Third Straight Victory

Will Alabama Behemoth Produce Surprise Winner

Carl Edwards, driver of the #19 ARRIS Toyota, speaks to the media during
a press conference prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 29, 2016 in Talladega.

When restrictor-plate racing, anything can happen. This has been true at Talladega where surprise winners sometimes emerge from the field. Most recently, David Ragan visited Victory Lane with Front Row Motorsports (spring 2013) and Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag with Phoenix Racing (spring 2009).

With the advent of the win-and-your-in Chase format, a surprise Talladega winner would get more than just the thrill of winning, he/she would earn a spot in NASCAR’s playoffs.

"That’s fun for us going to a place like that knowing we have a shot at winning and to say that is legitimate," said Matt DiBenedetto, driver of the less-funded No. 83 BK Racing Toyota. "If things fall right you can win. So that’s neat. When we come to all the regular superspeedways, wins for us are if you finish in the top half of the field because we’re a smaller team, and if we finish in the top 20, that’s beating a lot of really good high quality cars. But when you go to the superspeedways, it throws a lot of that out the window."

Fans should look out for Clint Bowyer, who has run poorly this season, but owns two Talladega victories. Also, Wood Brothers Racing’s Ryan Blaney placed a career-best fourth at the Alabama track last season and should prove interesting to watch.

Conversely, do not count out Edwards, who is known around the track as ‘Cousin Carl’ due to the fact that he is a first cousin once removed to fellow NASCAR driver Ken Schrader. Edwards thrillingly bumped teammate Kyle Busch on the final lap of last Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 to pass him for his second win in as many weeks.

Edwards has been dominant the last three races, leading the most laps in each of them. He ranks first on the Chase Grid on the strength of two wins, five top-fives and eight top-tens He will be hunting for his third straight win in Sunday’s GEICO 500 joining Busch as the only other driver to attempt the feat this season.

However, the No. 19 Toyota driver has never won at Talladega. Carl’s best finish at the Alabama track was third in spring of 2013. So if he wins tomorrow – that could be considered a ‘surprise’ both as the continuation of a winning streak and his first win at ‘Dega.’

Fun Fact – Who Owns the Most Consecutive NASCAR Wins?


Richard Petty sits on top of the list in BOTH first and second place: 

Driver No. From To
Richard Petty 10 08/12/1967 10/01/1967
Richard Petty 6 07/14/1971 08/08/1971
Bobby Allison 5 05/30/1971 06/23/1971
Dale Earnhardt 4 03/29/1987 04/26/1987
Bill Elliott 4 03/01/1992 03/29/1992
Harry Gant 4 09/01/1991 09/22/1991
Jeff Gordon 4 07/26/1998 08/16/1998
Jimmie Johnson 4 10/21/2007 11/11/2007
Mark Martin 4 08/08/1993 09/05/1993
David Pearson 4 04/03/1966 04/11/1966
David Pearson 4 05/05/1968 05/18/1968
Billy Wade 4 07/10/1964 07/19/1964
Darrell Waltrip 4 09/27/1981 11/01/1981
Cale Yarborough 4 09/12/1976 10/03/1976
Kyle Busch 3 07/11/2015 07/26/2015
Bobby Allison 3 10/29/1967 11/12/1967
Bobby Allison 3 07/09/1972 07/23/1972
Bobby Allison 3 09/05/1983 09/18/1983
Buck Baker 3 05/13/1956 05/25/1956
Dale Earnhardt 3 08/22/1987 09/13/1987
Jeff Gordon 3 09/15/1996 09/29/1996
Jeff Gordon 3 11/01/1998 02/14/1999
Bobby Isaac 3 04/03/1969 04/08/1969
Jimmie Johnson 3 10/16/2004 10/31/2004
Junior Johnson 3 06/05/1958 06/15/1958
Junior Johnson 3 08/13/1961 08/27/1961
David Pearson 3 08/08/1968 08/18/1968
David Pearson 3 04/15/1973 05/06/1973
David Pearson 3 05/30/1976 06/20/1976
Richard Petty 3 07/28/1974 08/11/1974
Richard Petty 3 03/16/1975 04/06/1975
Richard Petty 3 09/15/1968 09/29/1968
Richard Petty 3 09/13/1970 09/30/1970
Richard Petty 3 03/07/1971 03/21/1971
Richard Petty 3 04/15/1971 04/25/1971
Richard Petty 3 08/15/1962 08/21/1962
Richard Petty 3 04/21/1963 05/02/1963
Richard Petty 3 04/30/1966 05/10/1966
Richard Petty 3 07/13/1967 07/23/1967
Dick Rathmann 3 05/04/1952 05/18/1952
Fireball Roberts 3 04/07/1957 04/19/1957
Herb Thomas 3 09/08/1951 09/23/1951
Herb Thomas 3 06/27/1954 07/04/1954
Rusty Wallace 3 10/09/1988 10/23/1988
Rusty Wallace 3 04/04/1993 04/25/1993
Rusty Wallace 3 06/05/1994 06/19/1994


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