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Gambling man: Edwards not ready to give up just yet
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The odds makers in Vegas have thrown in the towel.
If you try and bet against Jimmie Johnson to win this years NASCAR Sprint Cup you’ll have a hard time because those who make their living betting on sports aren’t even taking bets; in fact they’ve pulled NASCAR from their boards such are the odds against someone pulling off the upset and beating Johnson over the course of the final two races.
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But that makes no difference to Carl Edwards.
Four races ago, Edwards was nearly 200 points behind Johnson. This weekend heading to Phoenix, he’s 106 points back.
Ironically part of Edwards’ success is due in part to his teams’ penchant for gambling. At Kansas, Edwards took a chance and made a Bonsai move on the final corner of the final lap in an attempt to pass Johnson. The move didn’t pay off, but last week at Texas, the team rolled the dice on fuel mileage and hit the jackpot winning their second race in a row.
Those back-to-back wins have helped Edwards build momentum over the course of the last three races.
“You don't have to go very far to see what three races can do,” Edwards said. “Look at the first three races of the Chase and look how everything shook out there -- look at the guys who shined and the guys who had trouble, so three races is a lot, especially when you're going 200 miles an hour with the best drivers in the world and you've got to go 500 miles at a place like this. Yeah, if they were giving out the trophy right now, it would be over, but they aren't. It's not over. There's a lot to go."
Now heading to Phoenix, Edwards will hope for Lady Luck to ride along with him as he tries to win the biggest prize of all. But the odds are once again seemingly stacked against him. Comparing Edwards and Johnson at Phoenix, Johnson has the statistical edge.
Johnson has won the last two races at Phoenix and has finished outside the top 10 only twice in 10 attempts. But Edwards has also produced solid results at Phoenix, with three top fives and five top 10s in eight starts. And last year at Phoenix, Edwards sat on the pole and led the first 87 laps before engine trouble knocked him out of the race. But Johnson won the race to all but lock up his second championship.
Johnson does have a chance of clinching the title this weekend. He needs to gain 90 points on Edwards and 52 on Greg Biffle in third to clinch. And if Johnson finishes seventh or better at Phoenix and Homestead he will clinch the title, no matter what another driver does.
But not even overwhelming odds will faze Edwards over the course of the last two races.
“Really it's just fun at this point. We've got nothing to lose,” Edwards said. “We can just go out and be aggressive and take chances. I can race as hard as I want. I mean, it's cool.”
And while the odds makers in Vegas may have thrown in the towel, Edwards sure hasn’t.
“What I've learned, and I'm still learning, is how to compete the best I can,” Edwards said. “The bottom line, you know, at the end of all of it is generally keep your head up and keep going as hard as you can and you'll get whatever you deserve.
I hope we keep making it exciting. I hope the next two races are real exciting. I hope it's still good for us.”
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