By Don Ward
Editor
(June 2005) – Carl Edwards has come a long way since winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in July 2003 at the Kentucky Speedway and going on to earn the circuit’s Raybestos Rookie of the Year award.

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images Carl Edwards hugs crew chief Todd Parrott after winning the Busch race April 30 in Atlanta.

July 2005 Kentucky Speedway Cover

• Distance: 200 laps, 300 miles (1.5-mile tri-oval) • Qualifying: Sat., June 18, begins at 5 p.m. (EDT-fast time) • Race: 8 p.m. (EDT) Saturday, June 18 • TV: FX (live) • Admission: $35 Friday; $50-$80 Saturday. Gates open 5 p.m. Fri.; 10 a.m. Sat. • Also at the Speedway: NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division Southeast Series’ “Insight Communications 150” (100 laps/150 miles) at 8 p.m. Friday. Country star Travis Tritt performs at 3 p.m. Saturday on the B-105 Country Soundstage. Busch Series Drivers to Watch • Carl Edwards, Columbia, Mo. Powered by Roush Racing, the rookie has already won twice this year. • Reed Sorenson, Atlanta, Ga. Third in points, the rookie has one victory under his belt this year. • Shane Hmiel, Conover, N.C. Now in his fourth year, he has won once in 2005. • Website: nascar.com • Tim Steele, Coopersville, Mich. • Website: arcaracing.com

Last year, he finished third in points in the Truck Series circuit. He also competed in 13 of the last 14 NASCAR Busch Series races, with his best finish third place at Atlanta.
This year, at age 25, he has stepped up to the Busch and Nextel Cup Series and leads the Busch Series points race after having scored victories at Atlanta and Richmond in the No. 60 Charter Communications Ford. In his first seven Busch Series starts of 2005, Edwards had earned three top-five and five top-10 finishes in Busch races. In Nextel Cup racing, Edwards ranked eighth in points after seven events.
Along the way, the agile Edwards has thrilled audiences with his now-famous back flip, which he likes to perform off the top of his car at the finish line after a victory. At Atlanta in March, Edwards swept both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series races in the same weekend. He did back flips both times.
He did a flip at Kentucky after winning the truck race, and he is hoping to repeat that stunt at the June 18 Busch Series event, where he will drive for Roush Racing. The Columbia, Mo., native enters this month’s “Meijer 300 Presented by Oreo” on a familiar track and one that provides him with many fond memories from his earlier victory in the truck series.
He will actually pull double duty that weekend by qualifying his Nextel Cup car at Pocono on Friday and return there for Sunday’s race. Another driver will qualify his Busch Series car at Kentucky.
Besides getting support from crew chief Bob Osborne and team owner Jack Roush, Edwards shares time with Roush teammates Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin. Roush Racing also has two Truck Series drivers in Ricky Craven and Todd Kluever.

Photo by Chris Stanford/Getty Images Carl Edwards accepts his trophy after winning at the Golden Corral 500 Nextel Cup race in Atlanta. He also won the Busch race that weekend.

During an April 12 teleconference, Edwards praised the support he gets from his team as his secret weapon for his early success this year.
“From my perspective, the edge is just the way our teams work together, you know, without egos getting in the way. It’s truly a team effort all the way up until the last 25 laps of the race,” he said. “That’s just an awesome feeling, to know that I can lean on my teammates for advice, for setups, for any type of help that we need. I think that’s a big advantage.”
Edwards said the early victories this season have taken some of the pressure off of him, but he remains a hard-charging competitor.
“Anybody that knows me will tell you, man, I’m the hardest person in the world on myself.  There can’t be any more pressure on me,” he said. “I don’t really feel things from the outside as far as pressure is concerned. I have just this internal desire to win every time I go do anything. It wears me out sometimes.”
Edwards said success has not changed him, but he admits that the publicity has put more demands on his time. “That’s been the biggest thing, is just things are piling up. I’m getting to do appearances and stuff for our sponsors that I probably wouldn’t have gotten to do. So that’s fun. The other cool thing is it seems like a lot of people recognize me now.”
Edwards’ growing fame and career recently received an even bigger boost for the second half of the 2005 season. On May 19, Roush Racing and Office Depot announced that the office products company was extending its on-track sponsorship commitment of Edwards’s No. 99 Ford to a total of 17 races for the remainder of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season.
In addition to the nine Nextel Cup races announced earlier this year, Office Depot will now sponsor a total of 17. With the addition of these races, Office Depot will appear on Edwards’ No. 99 Ford for six of the final 10 races in the “Chase for the Nextel Cup.” 
“With Carl’s performance so far this season, the prospect of adding races is something that excites every one of Office Depot’s em-ployees and customers across the country,” said Tony Ueber, vice president of Marketing Strategy for Office Depot.
Edwards began his racing career racing midgets and pro modifieds. Prior to signing with Roush Racing to drive trucks, he was a college student at the University of Missouri and a part-time substitute teacher.
He was introduced to racing by his father, Mike Edwards, who won more than 200 feature races at several Midwestern race tracks driving modified stock cars and midgets. Edwards’ parents divorced three years ago and his mother is remarried. Though he spends more time with his mother and stepfather these days, he credits his father for introducing him to the sport.

Photo by Chris Stanford/Getty Images Carl Edwards performs his trademark victory flip at the Aaron’s 312 race in Atlanta.

“My mom was really a strong person and a huge influence in my life just trying to keep me focused and keep me working towards a goal,” he said. “They were both instrumental, but it was definitely in different ways. I think without either of them, I definitely wouldn’t be racing like I am today.”
Carl got the racing bug early and, once signed by Roush just a week before the start of the 2003 season, proved his metal by winning the rookie award that year. To do it, he won three races, finishing one victory shy of tying the rookie record for wins. He spent the final 18 weeks of the season in the top 10 in points.
In 2004, Edwards finished 37th in points in the Busch Series, with one top five and five top-10 performances. He succeeded Jeff Burton in the No. 99 car after Burton moved to Richard Childress Racing in August. Edwards started 13 of the final 14 races of the year. The one race he missed in October was because he was competing in the Truck Series race at Texas, where he placed ninth.
He finished 10th in his first Busch Series race of 2004. That came at Michigan, where his feat put him among an elite field of only five active drivers to post a top-10 finish in their first series race.
Roush Racing is a subsidiary of Livonia, Mich.-based Roush Industries that operates 10 motorsports teams in NASCAR Nextel Cup, Busch and the Truck Series.

• Race fans can follow news of Carl Edwards and the No. 99 race team all season long at www.officedepotracing.com or at www.nascar.com.