Without owner points or a provisional to fall back on to earn a spot in NASCAR’s Super Bowl event, the sleepless nights and the countless meetings for Joe Gibbs Racing newest driver Carl Edwards were all for not, as the driver of the No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry successfully earned a starting spot in the 57th running of the Daytona 500 (Feb 22, 1 p.m. ET on FOX).
Despite not securing a spot on the front row in Sunday’s dramatic group qualifying session, Edwards rallied the third quickest time in the first round of group qualifying, securing a guaranteed spot in the “Great American Race.”
“This is a heck of a way to qualify for the biggest race of the year, especially for folks that are in our position, because there’s so much chance for a problem or something keeping you out of the race or putting you in a bad position.”
“A lot of nerves and we made the third-quickest time overall in the session,” said Edwards. “That, I believe, locks us into the Daytona 500 no matter what happens in the qualifying races, which is huge. ARRIS took such a huge gamble on us and it’s really cool.
“We had about four or five meetings about trying to figure out how we were going to do this. I don’t know that the meetings actually helped, but this means a lot for everybody at JGR to support this 19 team so much and to get us locked into the 500.”
The 23-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner though posted a fast time in Group 1b, the second group to determine the fastest 24 cars that would advance to round two of qualifying. Edwards though he didn’t better his time of 44.485 seconds at 202.315 miles per hour, he made it through the final round of qualifying where he drafted to the seventh fastest effort.
Despite a chaotic debut for group qualifying at the “World Center of Racing,” Edwards reverted back that it may not be in the driver’s control if the new format stuck around moving forward.
Instead, it would likely fall back towards the biggest asset to the sport, the race fans.
“As happy as I am now, it’s because of how we did and that’s it. I think it just leaves it up to chance. If it’s exciting for the fans and if it’s good that way then it’s good. For us, this is the most stressful way you can qualify. This is the most stressful race of the year and anything can take you out of it. Just glad that we’re in it with our ARRIS Toyota, this is really cool.”
The 35-year old Edwards joined Joe Gibbs Racing after an 11-year tenure at Roush Fenway Racing, but the Columbia, Missouri native entered Budweiser Speedweeks 2015 without the security of owner’s points or a past champions provisional to fall back, should disaster have struck.
The pressure is off for now.
Though locked in for his 11th Daytona 500, Edwards says he will race hard in Thursday’s Duels in an attempt to earn a better starting spot than his currently aligned 35th place position based on Daytona 500 qualifying procedures.
“We can be more aggressive because if something were to happen, I keep saying this, but I’m pretty sure we’re locked in,” offered Edwards. “That was a pretty complex chart they gave us, but we can be more aggressive and just hope that we get a good starting spot. We want to start up front, lead as many laps as we can and win the Daytona 500.”
Entering next Sunday’s season-opener, Edwards’s best finish in the Daytona 500 is second in the 2011 version.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
