2009 Sprint Cup season in review: Carl Edwards

In 2009 Carl Edwards drove the #99 Aflac Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing Getty Images/Sam Greenwood

Since I use to work at Roush Fenway Racing, and Carl Edwards was the first NASCAR driver to sign an autograph for my four year old son, it goers without saying I am huge Carl fan. However I have noticed a troubling pattern to his NASCAR career.

In 2005 he broke onto the Cup scene with four wins, in 2006 he went winless. After being reunited with Crew Chief Bob Osborne, we won three times in 2007. He followed that up with nine wins last year, only to go winless in 2009. If the pattern holds 2010 would seem to be another impressive cup series campaign for Carl and the #99 team.

In 2009 Carl completed 97.4% of the laps run. His average running position was 15.5; his final driver rating was 87.3. He completed 57% of the 2009 laps while running in the top 15, and 85.9% of his lap were run while on the lead lap.

Carl used those numbers to rack up seven top 5, and 14 top ten finishes. His average start was 19.7 and his average finish was 15.1. He had three DNF’s one coming via equipment failure and two coming via crashes. The first crash last spring at Talladega was a spectacular crash that ended with Carl running across the start finish line ala Ricky Bobby. In all he won a little more than 5.4 million dollars in purse money.

Of course for 4th season in a row Carl also completed full time in the Nationwide Series. There Carl finished second in the points, and over the last three Nationwide seasons he had not finished outside the top two spots in the points. Including his 2007 series championship.

For 2009 Carl racked up five wins, twenty-three top 5, and 30 top 10 finishes. He completed 97.7% of the laps run, and had just one DNF. His average start was 9.2 and his average finish was 6.8. He won 1.3 million dollars in prize money, and had a season in any other year that would have won a series title. Of course Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing dominated this series and beat Carl’s #60 team by over 200 points.

Carl will run both series full time again in 2010, and when Ford gets his new engine program up to snuff Carl should be able to make a series run at both series titles. It has never been done before, and it seem that this is Carl’s ultimate goal.

2009 Sprint Cup Season in Review

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